THE BREAKFAST CLUB
by ravendarkholme23
Summary: "We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us don't even try to hide it." In which, Angel Grove has a screwed-up, somewhat-reversed version of the Breakfast Club. In which, Crystalia Zeo could be labelled as a criminal when she's not learning how to save people from intergalactic enemies. {Power Rangers 2017 Movie} {Jason Scott / OC}
1. ZERO

_**ZERO | CAST AND EXTENDED SUMMARY**_

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.**

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 **VIRAGO;**

(NOUN) A STRONG, BRAVE, OR WARLIKE WOMAN; A WOMAN WHO DEMONSTRATES EXEMPLARY AND HEROIC QUALITIES

 **XXXXX**

 ** _KATHRYN NEWTON_** _AS_ _ **CRYSTALIA ZEO |**_ _THE CRIMINAL_ _ **| THE GOLD RANGER**_

 ** _"_** _IF I DIE, I WILL COME BACK AS A GHOST TO HAUNT YOUR ASS_ _ **"**_

 ** _DACRE MONTGOMERY_** _AS_ _ **JASON LEE SCOTT |**_ _THE ATHLETE_ _ **| THE RED RANGER**_

 ** _"_** _IT'S MORPHIN' TIME_ _ **"**_

 ** _RJ CYLER_** _AS_ _ **BILLY CRANSTON |**_ _THE BRAIN_ _ **| THE BLUE RANGER**_

 ** _"_** _ARE WE MORE LIKE IRON MAN OR SPIDER-MAN?_ _ **"**_

 ** _NAOMI SCOTT_** _AS_ _ **KIMBERLY HART |**_ _THE PRINCESS_ _ **| THE PINK RANGER**_

 ** _"_** _WE'RE ALL SCREW-UPS_ _ **"**_

 ** _LUDI LIN_** _AS_ _ **ZACK TAYLOR |**_ _THE LONER_ _ **| THE BLACK RANGER**_

 ** _"_** _IT'S JUST A HOLOGRAM, LIKE A VIDEO GAME_ _ **"**_

 ** _BECKY G_** _AS_ _ **TRINI KWAN |**_ _THE BASKET CASE_ _ **| THE YELLOW RANGER**_

 ** _"_** _PRETTY SURE I'M A SUPERHERO_ _ **"**_

 ** _WILLOW SHIELDS_** _AS_ _ **SAPHIRA MOORE |**_ _THE SWEETHEART_ _ **| THE HEALER**_

 ** _"_** _YOU'RE PHOSPHORESCENT!_ _ **"**_

 ** _SCARLETT JOHANSSON_** _AS_ _ **WILLOW MOORE |**_ _THE ARTIST_ _ **| THE CREATOR**_

 ** _"_** _I'M ALLOWED TO BE INVOLVED IN MY DAUGHTERS' LOVE LIVES_ _ **"**_

 ** _JAMES MCAVOY_** _AS_ _ **KYANITE ZEO |**_ _THE OVERACHIEVER_ _ **| THE DOCTOR**_

 ** _"_** _I'M A THIRTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO COLLECTS ROCKS_ _ **"**_

 ** _PAUL RUDD_** _AS_ _ **EUGENE MOORE |**_ _THE TRY-HARD_ _ **| THE AUTHOR**_

 ** _"_** _ME, MY COMPUTER AND MY 'JAMA PANTS_ _ **"**_

 ** _MELISSA PONZIO AS DIANE GARCIA |_** _THE PREP_ ** _| THE NURSE_**

 ** _"_** _I DON'T GET PAID TO CHASE WHEELCHAIRS AROUND!_ ** _"_**

 **XXXXX**

 **"** A STRONG WOMAN LOOKS A CHALLENGE DEAD IN THE EYE AND GIVES IT A WINK **"**

~ GINA CAREY ~

 **XXXXX**

 **"** IF YOU OBEY _ALL_ THE RULES, YOU MISS _ALL_ THE FUN **"**

KATHERINE HEPBURN ~

 **XXXXX**

 **"** Dear Mr Fredrickson,

We – _grudgingly_ – accept the fact that we had to sacrifice _multiple_ Saturdays in detention for whatever it is we did wrong.

But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. We know who we are – we're a pretty mismatched group of friends but we're really more like a family – Angel Grove's own screwed-up, somewhat-reversed version of _The Breakfast Club_.

You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions.

But what we found out is that each of us is a _brain_ ,

and an _athlete_ ,

and a _basket case_ ,

and a _princess_ ,

and a _loner_ ,

and a _criminal_.

And none of us are _just_ those lame stereotypes you've so kindly gifted us with, not that you're ever going to notice because your head is shoved up your ass. It doesn't mean we're going to stay the same for the rest of our lives. Are you jealous? You can't change who _you_ are but we can and we're going to – together, as our _own_ unique Breakfast Club.

Does that answer your question?

It better. Because I've spent the last fifteen minutes copying Brian Johnson's letter – and adding my own personal flair to it – and I've got better shit to do than this.

Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club **"**

 **XXXXX**

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 **I am so horrible at updating but hey, new story!**

 **Please review and tell me what you think of this new story! And follow and favorite!**

 **~ Raven**


	2. ONE

**_ONE | DICKHEADS IN THE HALLS OF ANGEL GROVE HIGH_**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

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"Yo! Dickhead!"

Everyone in the hallway of Angel Grove's small high school snapped their heads up at the angry yell and if Crystalia Zeo wasn't so damn _pissed_ , she would've snickered. But she was _beyond_ pissed and she was already painfully aware of the stupidity that surrounded her in high school. It was no wonder that hardly anyone made it out of Angel Grove, judging by the fact that the small town's inhabitants were all remarkably dim-witted, save for a select few.

Crystalia, commonly known as Crys to her friends, was one of those select few.

She was desperate to turn eighteen and to get the chance to finally escape from the town she had been forced to call home from the age of one. But still, that was six, _long_ months away for the seventeen-year-old and Crys had decided to dedicate her last year of high school to beating up bullies.

Which she was about to do.

The person in particular that Crys was speaking to was a ginger-haired brute of a boy who was currently doing the only thing he was really capable of with his tiny amount of brain cells – making William 'Billy' Cranston's life absolutely miserable. Billy had accidently exploded his lunchbox in his locker – which had scored him a few Saturday detentions – and apparently, the blast had been too close to the bully for him to ignore it. Crys didn't really see a difference, even after the blast had burnt off whatever remained of the bully's already almost-nonexistent eyebrows.

So, here he was, the big lug of Angel Grove High, ready to pound Billy into the ground. And that was something that Crys did not stand for.

For argument's sake, let's just assume that this ginger idiot was, in fact, a dickhead and therefore, would be one of the ones to look up at the blonde Zeo girl's yell.

He was. _No surprise there_.

"What do you want, _Crystal_?" The boy sneered, completely butchering Crys' name. At least she didn't butcher his – she was so far past giving a shit that she hadn't actually taken the time to learn it, despite the boy having been the one to terrorize Billy for years. "Come to rescue your _boyfriend_?"

"Actually, I'm here to rescue you." Crys angled herself between her best friend and the bully, slapping the bully's raised arm away before he could take a swing at Billy. "Walk away now, keep your mouth shut and I _won't_ put you in hospital."

The crowd of students who had stopped to watch _ooh_ ed but the blonde girl didn't even shoot them a glance, keeping her menacing glare on the redhead in front of her.

Jason Scott, the golden boy of Angel Grove and the quarterback, watched on with his team, noticing the way that Crys didn't back down from her glare-off with the redhead. Jason, like many of the students in the high school, was completely fascinated with Crystalia but despite his whole, 'golden boy, quarterback' persona, he'd never been brave enough to actually _introduce_ himself to Crys, much less speak to her.

Everyone in Angel Grove had heard of Crystalia Zeo – if they hadn't, they'd been living under a rock. She was a spitfire with a name fit for a princess and the appearance of an angel wrapped into one intriguing being and, like many of the male population of the school, Jason admired her from afar. Jason had to admit, Crystalia was a mystery – a beautiful mystery wrapped within multiple layers of sarcasm and leather jackets – and no one knew her interests or if she was good in her classes or at sport or anything really.

Crys intrigued people but her rebel-like guise didn't exactly make people want to approach her all too much.

She could easily be very popular, if she opened up a bit and stopped scowling, but she was perfectly content with being best friends with Billy and the (only) friend of Angel Grove's invisible girl, Trini Kwan. Although Crys was approachable to _most_ people and was nice enough when she _really_ wanted to be, she was perfectly happy with one best friend, one or two close friends and a handful of acquaintances.

"Fine." The redhead stepped back and Crys carefully looped her arm with Billy's, who shot her an appreciative look. But the bully didn't keep his mouth shut for long and that was a _horrible_ mistake. "Yeah! Why don't you go home and cry to your _daddies_." There was a sharp, collective intake of breath from the teenagers watching. Crys had stopped walking, a dangerous sign. "Oh, that's right, you don't have daddies!"

It all happened in a second.

One moment, Crys was walking away, already speaking quietly to Billy about something – their next science experiment, actually – the kind smile that she reserved only for the Cranston boy plastered on her face; and the next moment, there was a blur of blonde and Crys had tackled the ginger boy and had taken to punching him repeatedly in the face.

Crys' father, Kyanite Zeo, was a world-renowned doctor and scientist and, although not present, was still alive. The Zeo girl actually had a really close relationship with her father and although they only really spoke over the phone or over Skype, at least she still had that contact with him. Billy's father, however, was dead and his face had fallen significantly at the bully's words.

Crys and Billy's dynamic was unique – the boy was on the autism spectrum and didn't understand jokes or sarcasm and didn't handle new or stressful things very well but that was where Crys came in. Crys was virtually fearless, handled stress amazingly, cracked jokes all the time and always had the patience to explain sarcasm to Billy.

They had met when they were children, through their fathers, and aside from their shared love of science, the best friends always knew they could always rely on each other and were fiercely protective. Well, Crys was (she punched first, asked questions later) but Billy was known to defend the blonde exceptionally well too.

"You shut the _Hell_ up!" Crys snarled, holding the bully down and landing another punch to the boy's jaw as he struggled. In her tackle, Crys had landed on top of the bully, her knees digging into his shoulders painfully. He stared up at her enraged features, scared absolutely shitless. "You don't _ever_ mention our fathers, you lowlife, piece of—"

Abruptly, the Zeo girl was hauled off the redhead who remained cowered on the ground. It wasn't the first time that Crys had faced off against a bully and certainly not the last against this particular idiot. His snivels could be heard throughout the entire hallway and the students watched, awe on their faces on how Crys handled the boy, who had been one of their tormentors at least once, yet again.

And yet again, Crys was going to face another detention.

The Zeo girl turned to find that her least favorite teacher, Mr Fredrickson, had appeared behind her – most likely wondering why half of his students had yet to turn up to class and were instead watching a fight – and had employed Jason Scott's help to pull the girl away from the bully. The teacher stared at his other student – the redhead had a split lip and multiple bruises were already beginning to litter his cheeks and jaw.

"Just what do you think you're doing!?"

Crys shrugged, "Getting a date with detention apparently, unless Golden Boy here," the girl angled her head to Jason, unable to move her arms because of the footballer's iron-like grip, "wants to take me out on a date instead."

Jason grinned and unraveled his arms from around her waist. The corridor of students laughed quietly but Mr Fredrickson didn't look amused. "Principal's office. _Now_. I'm sure you can walk yourself there, Miss Zeo, you've been there enough times. And you will _not_ need Mr Scott's help."

Crys schooled her features into an innocent look and pantomimed a faint, "But I'm not feeling well, sir. Handing this douche's ass to him made me feel so weak. Maybe _Mr Scott_ could carry me to the office?"

"I wouldn't mind, Mr Fredrickson," Jason offered, a bit too quickly, he realised after a moment but the middle-aged teacher shook his head.

" _No_ , Mr Scott. That will not be necessary." He turned to Crys, speaking through gritted teeth, " _Go on_ , Miss Zeo. I'm sure the principal would love to hear all about how you threw the first punch… _for the third time this week_."

"I'd love to tell the principal all about it." Crys put on a posh accent, waving her hand around with flair, "It's truly a regaling tale."

Mr Fredrickson ignored the comment and turned his gaze on the boy on the ground, "Oh, get up, Mr Wallace. I do not doubt Miss Zeo's ability to throw a punch but you needn't roll around on the ground for hours." The teacher stared back at Crys, who had yet to move, " _Go_ , Miss Zeo."

"Aye-aye, sir." The blue-eyed girl looked at Billy, "I'll be over at your house later tonight, okay, Billy?"

"Hmm," Billy hummed. He felt bad for getting Crys into trouble – _again_ – but he was put at ease when his best friend smiled widely at him, showing him that she wasn't annoyed and swept over to Billy to hug him. The Cranston boy hugged his best friend – his _only_ friend, really – back, "Bring your toolkit."

The girl nodded, the pair's conversation carrying on like they were the only ones in the hall. Mr Fredrickson coughed with a pointed look and Crys mock-saluted the teacher, flicking her blonde curls over her shoulder. Crys winked at Jason when she passed him.

Finally, she sashayed down the hall to the principal's office but not before she snapped her teeth at the bully like a wolf and sent the boy into another round of hushed whimpers.

Crys' laugh could be heard as she walked down the hall, the students parting like the Red Sea for her, her heeled boots making a clicking noise through the near-silent hall, leaving everyone mute.

Crystalia Zeo was certainly something else.

 **XXXXX**

"I'm very disappointed in you, Miss Zeo."

"Yeah, I know. Mom's disappointed in me too."

Crys sat in the principal's office, her mother beside her. Her mother's face was pinched in an expression of exasperation. She wasn't disappointed actually; no, Willow Moore would never be disappointed in either of her daughters but she more tired with the outcome that always resulted when Crys resolved a problem with her fists.

Willow's younger daughter, Saphira, sat out in the hall. Crys could see her half-sister from her seat; the younger blonde was sitting in the uniform of her private school, with her back perfectly straight, her leg elegantly crossed over the other and her hands gracefully overlapped and set on her knee. The two girls, throughout majority of their childhood, hadn't really been close but now they were exceptionally close, a bond originally created by a grudging respect. They loved each other immensely, something they were more open to admitting now because they were older, and the two girls were known to team-up against people they didn't like.

Saphira went to a private school and had just returned home for the month, only to be dragged into Angel Grove High because of her trouble-maker of a sister. Crys refused to let anyone learn that she was technically a genius and instead remained remarkably silent in her classes. While Crys could, figuratively, look up and have a yelled conversation with Einstein on the intelligence ladder, Saphira breezed past and high-fived Einstein on her way up, passing his IQ score of one-hundred and sixty.

The Moore girl actually didn't mind being around people who weren't geniuses like her – she _adored_ being around Billy, who was like a brother to both blondes – and she was actually glad to be away from the snobby rich kids she had to endure at her school, at least here, Saphira could admire someone from afar.

Crys turned her brilliant blue eyes back to her principal, who was droning on to her mother about how Crys' behavior was unacceptable, how she would have to go to the school on _Saturdays_ for probably the rest of the year because it was her third offense in a week, she was known to be quite violent, never showed her true potential and _blah_ , _blah_ , _blah_ – Crys zoned the principal out completely, looking back out the window of the office door.

Saphira met Crys' eyes and pulled out her phone, shooting her sister a text. _Bored?_

Crys typed a response, eyes still on her principal and her fingers flying over the keys of her phone under the desk. _Any more bored and I'll be dead_.

The sixteen-year-old Moore girl smiled. _Want a rescue?_

 _Do you even need to ask?_

Saphira was in the office in a second, holding a tissue drenched with red liquid to her nose, "Mom! Mom, I'm not feeling well."

Even Willow had to keep the look of relief off her face. "Oh, dear. A nose bleed! We have to get you home."

The principal got up to say goodbye to the elder Moore woman, muttering something about her daughter needing her and that Crys already knew her punishment (more _blah_ , _blah_ , _blah_ ) and Crys was already steering her half-sister out of the office, muttering, "You are a _life-saver_ , Saf."

Saf grinned as they turned the corner, out of sight of the principal, tossing the tissue into a bin and pulling a small bottle of fake blood out of her sleeve to wiggle at her sister, "I know. You _totally_ owe me."

"Oh, yeah." Crys was really glad that she had given the bottle of fake blood to Saf as a present for her last birthday. The elder blonde glanced up and smirked, cooing, " _Ooh_ , Saf. Don't look now."

Of course, like any normal person, Saphira looked. Immediately, a blush spread across her cheeks. " _Crystalia_!" The Moore girl hissed, turning to her sister and desperately trying to walk the other way. Crys shook her head and spun Saf back around, urging her to keep walking. Even Willow giggled, adoring how her youngest acted around her crush.

The blue-eyed girl grinned at her green-eyed sister and waved a hand, catching the attention of the person shuffling towards them. "Hey! _Trini_!"

Trini Kwan snapped her head up and bit her lip, trying to hide her wide smile. _Saphira Moore_ was in front of her. "Hey, Crys. Hi, _Saphira_."

Saf blushed even brighter at her full name coming from the Kwan girl's lips and she waved, "Uh, h-hi, Trini."

Despite their original nerves, the two girls engaged in conversation soon enough and Crys slipped off to stand beside her mother, a few steps away. Willow smiled at her daughter and the girl her daughter liked. When Saphira had first told her family that she liked girls at dinner one night, Willow had immediately told Saf that no matter what, they'd always love her. That and the fact that whichever girl Saf liked, she would still have to bring her home to get the third-degree from a mother with a terrific death glare and a big sister that could kick the girl's ass.

Saphira had almost died from relief when both her mom and sister told her that they approved of Trini after she admitted she liked her, even if the girls weren't dating ("Yet!" Crys always reminded Saf) and even when Saphira said that she didn't know if Trini shared her feelings. Crys had hit her over the head for that, commenting, "For a smart kid, you're so stupid, Saffy."

Saphira's father, Eugene, was a bit of another story. He was still trying to wrap his head around the face that 'his little princess liked other little princesses,' as the bestselling author put it so eloquently, but they all knew he was trying.

Raised in a strict Christian family, Eugene had found it something he couldn't even _begin_ to accept until Crys had gotten up, tipped her chair onto the ground and yelled, "Get over it, Gene! She's still Saphira, so stop being such a shit about her being _true_ to herself!" Gene had quietened down after that and Crys had too, finally mumbling, "I can't even begin to understand how much guts it took her to just tell _herself_ , let alone us. I'm going to support my _sister_ , even if you won't."

Eugene had not said another word, amazed by Crys' protectiveness. That was one of the first times that Crystalia had showed exactly how close she and Saphira had become. Saf had burst into tears at her half-sister's words and even now, speaking to Trini, almost two years after coming out, she was still being supported whole-heartedly by her older sister, something that was never going to change.

"I'm so proud of her," Crys whispered to her mother. "She's being true to herself and hardly _anyone_ does that anymore."

Willow nodded and wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders, "I am too. I _really_ want them to be together."

The blue-eyed girl shook her head. Her mother could act like a teenager when it came to relationships and that was probably exactly why Crys didn't have a boyfriend. Willow let out a squeal when Trini blushed at something Saf said and pushed a loose curl of her hair behind her ear. Crys eyed them knowingly and shook her head gently.

"Mom, you know, we're still close enough for them to _hear_ us, right?" Crys reminded her mother but Willow was already staring down the hall at something behind the younger blonde.

"Who is _that_?"

" _Mom_ ," Crys grumbled. "We're in a _high school_ , I'm sure whoever it is, is _way_ too young for—" The blonde turned her head slightly and immediately gulped, seeing a boy heading down the hall, " _That_ is Jason Scott. Golden boy, quarterback and—"

"Really _hot_ ," Willow finished. Crys cringed. Her mother had a husband and although she was gorgeous, Willow was _way_ too old for a teenager. But that was how Willow Moore was – she was more of a teenager than Crys was. "He's walking towards us! Oh, my God, are you dating him? Thank God you're not as clueless as your father about relationships."

Crys cringed again. She knew very well that Kyanite Zeo was handsome and that Crys had his eyes but she also knew that like her, he was a nerd. However, he was a very, _very_ introverted nerd and he'd had no experience with women before Willow. Ky hadn't had any trouble snagging Willow's attention but realising that Willow wanted to be _more_ than friends had been a bit difficult. Admittedly, Willow had nearly given up before Ky had gotten wise. Kyanite and Willow had met in college, dated for years and then Willow broke it off, wanting the love of her life to pursue his career as a mineralogist overseas, without her 'dragging him down'.

Within two months, Willow got a new boyfriend – a sort-of rebound that she had quickly fallen in love with – Eugene Moore, and discovered that she was pregnant.

The real shock had been when she discovered that the child wasn't her new boyfriend's and was instead Ky's. Eugene had never held it against her – he knew that Willow had loved someone else before him – and proposed to her with the promise that he would raise Crystalia Zeo like his own. Willow accepted, knowing that Eugene was an amazing man and truly loved her and a year after Crys was born, Willow gave birth to another daughter and as a family – Willow, Gene, a one-year-old Crys and a newborn Saphira – they moved to Angel Grove.

"Oh, he really _is_ hot…"

Crys widened her eyes, "Can you stop!?" Willow giggled and raised her hands in a 'surrender' motion.

Jason was on his way to the football field and upon seeing Crys, waved with a sweet smile, his heart stuttering slightly at the sight of the Zeo girl. The blonde girl waved back, a half-smile tugging at her full lips and she heaved a sigh of relief when the Scott boy disappeared into the locker room. Crys was glad she wasn't going to have to speak to the boy who had _literally_ dragged her away from punching the shit out of a bully.

Willow widened her eyes like a child and clasped Crys' hands in her own. "You _like_ him."

Crys gave her mother a deadpanned stare (she didn't, at least she didn't think she did), not saying a word as Saf said her goodbyes to Trini and walked back over, slightly breathless and a wide smile stretching her lips.

"Trini's coming over this afternoon! I was hoping that she could stay over for dinner." The younger girl frowned, glancing between the pair, finally picking up on the tension, "Everything okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine!" Willow chirped, "And I'd love to have Trini over for dinner."

"Yeah." Crys rolled her eyes, shook her mother off and stalked down the hall to collect her bag from her locker. She looked over at her mother after fiddling with the dial, "No messing with the students here. Or my nonexistent love life, okay?"

Willow reached forward to hug Crys and pressed a kiss to her temple, "Fine, fine. I promise. Are you going to Billy's?"

"Yep." Crys popped the 'p.' "Have fun at home and please, _please_ don't embarrass Saf like you embarrass me."

"That, I do _not_ promise."

Crys rolled her eyes again and smiled, "Grow up. Love you, mom." The elder blonde hugged her half-sister, "Love you, Saf. Remember: make sure Gene accepts Trini and if he doesn't…hit him with a chair. And if mom is being overbearing, lock her in her room."

Saphira laughed and nodded. Crys winked at her sister and swirled out of the school, bag over her shoulder and toolbox in hand.

"She is _such_ a nerd," Willow mused. Ky had kept a toolbox in his school locker too. Saf raised her brows, slightly offended. Willow waved it off and looped her arm with her youngest daughter, "Oh, honey, you know what I mean. Come on, let's go home and get you ready for your _date_."

"It's just dinner, mom! With you and dad!"

 **XXXXX**

"What's a 'virago'?" Billy asked from his desk chair, glancing up from Crys' History textbook, which was open on his lap.

His specialty was science, although he was good at History, but Billy had no interest in wasting time trying to figure out the definition of a word used once in a textbook if he didn't have to. He doubted he'd ever have to describe Joan of Arc as a 'virago' in the future, no matter what the textbook said.

Crys was sprawled out over her best friend's bed, scribbling complicated math equations into a tattered notebook – she was terrific in majority of her classes but she really excelled in math – and she took her headphones off, letting the beat of the rock music flow through the room.

"Uh," Crys frowned, trying to remember. She'd heard the word before and knew the definition. Her father had called her a 'virago' once. "A brave or warlike woman. A woman who has heroic qualities."

"Huh." The Cranston boy turned to fish for a pen but caught the one Crys threw at him, the girl knowing that if Billy didn't have all his pens lined up and colour-coded he would spend the next fifteen minutes organizing his stationary. Crys didn't mind if it took a bit longer but she also knew that Billy liked to write notes in the borders of Crys' textbooks – Billy hated doing it in his own books so Crys offered her own – before he forgot. Which was also unlikely because Billy Cranston had a super-memory.

"Thank you for standing up for me today."

Crys waved it off, "Always, Billy. You're my best friend, I'm always going to defend you. And it's always fun putting that dickhead in his place, especially because he's never gonna learn."

Billy nodded but still looked conflicted, "But don't you have detention now?"

"What's new? But yeah, probably for the rest of the year too. Third offense and all." The blonde shrugged, she actually didn't mind detention. Crys never had anything to do at home, so why not catch up on the assignments she never did in class? The Zeo girl never did her work during school hours, always able to do it within a few hours after school and score a good grade too. "But think about this: if I start a fight again, my punishment can't get much worse than Saturday school for the rest of the year."

Billy pursed his lips and looked back to the textbook for a moment. He looked back up to Crys, who was lying on her back and tapping her gold-painted nails against her thigh to the beat of the song playing through the speaker of her phone.

"Will your parents be mad?"

"Mom isn't and that's all that really matters."

"If I…" Billy closed the textbook, "If I could get someone to get us to the mine, would you come with me?"

Crys sat up quickly, her blonde hair trailing behind her, "Of course. Who are you going to ask though?"

The Cranston boy shrugged and Crys narrowed her eyes. She had never been allowed to drive and had never fully completed the process of getting her license, given that she was reckless and each lesson usually ended in her smashing into something. The Zeo girl turned back to her book, placing her headphones back over her ears and with that, the two friends turned back to their individual work, an unspoken agreement to find someone who would be willing to drive them to where they wanted to go.

 **XXXXX**

Saphira flopped fast-first onto her bed, burying her face into the mountain of pillows on top of her cream duvet. Dinner had been _horrible_.

Trini sat down heavily in Saphira's desk chair, looking around her room. While Crys' room was dark, covered from ceiling to floor in posters of rock bands, science puns and photographs, Saf's room was bright white, filled to the brim with books and the walls were covered in Saf's swirling calligraphy. There was a clear contrast between the two girls but they were also similar – sharing the same sort of intellect and humor.

The Kwan girl laughed as Saphira groaned into the pillow, "That was _so_ bad. I'm sorry, Trini."

"It wasn't that bad," Trini shook her head. "Thanks for having me over. Dinner was really nice."

"Even with my parents giving you the third degree?"

The brunette girl shrugged. Willow and Eugene had asked her a variety of questions throughout the night, of varying degree. The most terrifying had been 'what are your intentions with our daughter?' Eugene had been slapped over the head by Willow for that one as Trini had choked on a mouthful of water and Saf became the color of a fire hydrant and looked like she was about to die of embarrassment.

Trini reached out and laced her fingers with Saf's. "When are you going to tell them?"

"When are you going to tell _your_ family?" The blonde retorted. She sighed, "I don't know why it's so hard. 'Mom, dad, Trini and I have been dating for the past month and it's not just awkward flirting. Surprise!'"

"You make it sound so easy." Saf moved to let Trini lie on the bed beside her, hands tightly interlocked and Trini blew out a quiet breath, "Think about how it's going to be for me. My parents aren't understanding like yours are. Even if your dad didn't accept us, at least your mom and Crys would."

Saf nodded slowly, staring at the ceiling. She had a feeling that Crys wasn't as oblivious as she pretended to be to Saf and Trini's relationship. If Saf had to bet, she would guess that Crys already knew they were a couple and was just staying silent until Saphira was ready to tell them herself. Crys was good like that – she didn't tell anyone anything if it wasn't her place.

"I'm really glad that Crys is so supportive," Saf said quietly into the silent room. "You know, you're always welcome here, right?"

Trini didn't answer aloud but Saf felt her nod against her shoulder. The green-eyed Moore girl tightened her grip on Trini's hand, which was squeezed back with just as much pressure. In that moment, they were just two girls who cared infinitely about each other and were content to enjoy the other's presence.

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **I know that this story is listed as 'Coming Soon' but I was just so pumped I had to post this chapter. But this story will have extremely slow updates. Crys, despite her gentle-sounding full name (which I got from Marvel) is going to be a badass and extremely crass, so expect lots of swearing.**

 **Please review, follow and favorite!**

 **~ Raven**


	3. TWO

**_TWO | POLITENESS IS SHOWN THROUGH VISITING CRIPPLES_**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

* * *

 **THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO** ** _Elsa - 18, Love..Fiction.2017, Cas, BrownEyedDreamr_ AND _Guest_ FOR REVIEWING THIS STORY. I AM SO, SO GLAD THAT YOU LIKE CRYS AS MUCH AS I DO!**

* * *

Friday had passed by in a blur and 'Detention Day' Saturday had rolled around quickly for Billy and Crys. Saf hadn't been able to stop snickering as she watched her sister pick at her breakfast, with an obvious look of distaste on her face.

Clockwise. Anti-clockwise. Scoop a spoonful of breakfast slop. Let it fall back into the bowl in a pretty disgusting way. Clockwise again – "Are you going to actually _eat_ that cereal? Or just stir it?"

"Shut. Up. Saphira." Crys drew out each word with stabs of her spoon into the now-mushy cereal and Saphira lifted her hands in a 'surrender' motion. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"Not really, no. Annoying you is great."

Crys finally dropped the utensil that she was about to use as a weapon, having given up at eating. She gazed at her sister; Saphira's knee was bouncing under the table. "Nervous for something, sis?"

"Uh—w— _No_!" Saf stuttered. She fiddled with her fingers, something she only did when she was nervous.

Crys smirked. "Uh huh, sure. You love annoying me but you can't stand it when I analyze you."

"I am _not_ nervous for anything," Saf replied hotly, the tips of her ears red.

"So defensive," Crys teased. She wiggled her spoon at her younger sister as she headed for the kitchen to dispose of her cereal, "Go, I'll cover for you."

Saf let out a sigh of relief. Willow always insisted that they shared breakfast as a family in the morning, explaining the request as helping to get her 'creative juices' flowing. Willow Moore was a painter and took exceptional pride in her little quirks that helped her work—even if it meant that she had to analyze the behavior of her daughters before even lifting a brush.

"This is me returning the favor for the fake blood!"

"Whatever! Just cover for me!"

Crys waited until the front door slammed closed and added quietly, "Say 'hi' to Trini for me." The blonde spun around to come face-to-face with her mother, who was looking sternly at her for letting her sister run out from the 'family bonding', "Uh…I'd love to stay but I'm late for detention!"

Willow was not impressed as she watched her eldest daughter speed up the stairs to grab her bag and hurry to school.

 **XXXXX**

Saf had almost ran out of the house at a sprint, hurrying to Trini's house, which wasn't really far away. She tapped at Trini's window at a speed that a jackhammer would be jealous of until the Kwan girl finally dragged her way over to the window.

Trini yawned widely. "What do you want, Saffy?"

Saf blushed at the nickname. Her lips pulled into a gentle smile, "Wanna do something today?"

Trini stared. She blinked. She blinked again and looked vaguely annoyed. "Sure, just let me get dressed."

The blonde Moore girl gave a happy little wiggle and (impatiently) waited for her girlfriend to get ready for what Crys would describe as 'a day full of sappiness.'

 **XXXXX**

"Do you think the dickhead is in detention?"

Billy sighed, hitching his backpack higher onto his shoulders and clasping the straps with his thin fingers. "Do you have to call him a… _that_?"

The blonde girl raised a brow, "What else am I going to call him?"

"What about his name?"

"I don't know it."

"It's Colt Wallace."

Billy had finally gotten sick of 'dickhead this' and 'dickhead that,' finally telling the blonde the bully's name. Quite quickly, Crys spun around from where she was shoving her books into her locker, asking, "That was the dickhead's name? Like a freaking _uncastrated, baby horse_?"

"Yes," was all Billy had to say and Crys was collapsing against her locker, wheezing from laughter. He had not expected Crys' Saturday detention to be filled with so much happiness…at least on Crys' end.

Crys finally caught her breath after her laughing fit, "Oh god, that's _so_ much better than _dickhead_."

Billy just stared at her for a few moments before he tugged at the sleeve of her checkered shirt and dragged her along to detention. "Come on. We can't be late."

"Late to class. _Tragedy_ ," Crys drawled, following behind Billy. "Do you think they'll give us _detention_?"

The Cranston boy rolled his eyes and nudged Crys along. They trudged along silently before Billy opened his mouth. "Did you hear about what Jason Scott did last night? The failed prank, the cow and the car crash?"

Crys immediately perked up, interested. "I have now. Tell me _everything_."

"I can't," Billy muttered, watching his best friend's face fall slightly. "We're here."

" _Shit_ ," Crys grumbled quietly as Billy walked down the stairs to the detention room. The blonde tossed her head back and huffed; she was no stranger to detention but seriously, did anyone really _enjoy_ detention after multiple occasions locked in a room with a group of sweaty, annoying teenagers?

No. No they did not.

By the time Crys made it down the stairs, Billy was already being held by the collar by _Colt Wallace_ (Crys was never going to get used to _actually_ knowing the idiot's name) and was being yelled at.

"Hey, nerd boy! Where's your crazy girlfriend? Not here to protect you?!"

"The 'crazy girlfriend' is _right. Here_ ," Crys snarled, jumping down to the ground from the third last step. The ginger boy gulped, paling as Crys dropped her bag and cracked her knuckles. "Back off, _Wallace_. Didn't you learn your lesson? Want me to teach it to you again?"

The detention teacher finally made an appearance, forcing Colt to drop Billy and Crys to stop burning a hole into the ginger's face with her glare. They were ordered to their seats and told to sit still and shut up.

"Don't do anything," Billy warned his best friend in a near-whisper as he dropped into his seat and began to organize his coloured pencils on the desk.

Crys smiled innocently and wrinkled her nose, "Why would I?"

"I mean something _illegal_."

"Never." The small lighter in her pocket seemed to burn against her thigh and she nudged her boot against her bag. The aerosol can rattled slightly as it rolled. "Don't worry about me, Billy. I'm on the straight-and-narrow now."

 _Said no criminal ever._

 **XXXXX**

"I was _not_ aware that a single individual could even generate as much trouble as you do, Crystalia Zeo!"

"I take pride in my work, sir. That and I'm really good at making the impossible happen."

The vein in Mr Fredrickson's forehead throbbed. " _Miss Zeo_ , I hope that you are aware this is _not_ a joking matter!"

"Of course not, sir," Crys stated blandly. Her eyes were narrowed and she looked exceptionally bored. "It would never be funny to see a boy's pants catch on fire and reveal his _Ben 10_ boxers to the entire detention room. That would be a complete and utter breach of privacy and terrifically undermining."

The teacher nodded, "No, it is not fun—" He finally noticed the sarcasm and almost exploded, his face red with anger, "Miss Zeo!"

Crys smiled innocently, "That's my name, sir. Please don't wear it out. I pride myself on _uniqueness_ too."

The dark-haired man, who was unfortunately forced to spend every single one of his Saturdays _babysitting_ teenagers, scrubbed at his face. "Please just leave, Miss Zeo. And refrain from doing something else fire-related on your way off the premises."

Crys got up from the chair in Fredrickson's office and hooked her foot in her bag strap. She kicked it up and caught it with a smirk as she headed for the door. "See you _next Saturday_ for the rest of my high school career, sir."

The door closed and Fredrickson dropped his head onto his desk. " _Don't remind me_."

The blue-eyed girl snickered outside of the office door and practically skipped down the deserted hall. She was alone but she didn't mind all too much—she was glad that she hadn't been arrested. Setting a boy's pants on fire with a lighter and an aerosol can could be easily spun to be seen as a premeditated crime and the act of an _arsonist_.

After the detention, she had been called into Mr Fredrickson's office, despite telling the teacher multiple times that she had an appointment to get to. Billy's mother had picked Billy up and was supposed to drive Crys home too—she was going to have to sneak away later to get to her appointment—but she had told him just to go and to send her love to his mother. Mrs Cranston was truly a lovely woman and adored the Zeo-Moore family as much as the Zeo-Moore family loved the Cranston mother and son duo.

But Crys couldn't tell Billy _everything_ , best friend or not. There were aspects of Crys' life that she had to deal with on her own, without help from her friends or family.

Crys fished out her phone as it bleeped the _Kim Possible_ theme song. "Hello?"

" _Hello, my little gem_."

The Zeo girl's mouth stretched into a large, happy smile, "Dad! What's up?"

" _My appointment's been changed to six o'clock_ ," Kyanite Zeo said tersely. He knew that his daughter was smart and the second she had figured out what was wrong with her father, she had wanted to support him every step of the way. The Zeo man would be damned if he denied Crys that right. " _Tonight_."

Crys stopped walking in the middle of the hall. "What? Tonight? What happened to 'in a week's time'? Don't…don't tell me it accelerated…"

There was silence for a moment. " _They suspect so. I didn't want to tell you but I knew you'd threaten to kill me if I didn't_ —"

"Damn right."

"— _and I really didn't want to risk it_."

"I'm glad you didn't. I'll be there."

Ky sighed, " _You don't need to come here. I was just letting you know_."

"I know," Crys chirped back. "I love you and I'll see you soon."

" _I love you too, gem_."

Her shoulders slumped as soon as the phone clicked, indicating the end of the call. Crys began walking again, her heart painfully heavy in her chest as she made her way out of Angel Grove High.

 **XXXXX**

Jason Lee Scott, star quarterback of the Angel Grove High football team, looked like a child.

He was petulantly staring at his injured leg, the brace wrapped tightly around his knee. Cuts lined his face and arms and his entire _being_ ached—his pride more than anything. The more time he had to think in solitude, the more he regretted his actions.

'No more football,' the doctors had said.

'We'll discuss your punishment when you're fit to leave,' the principal had said.

'You've disappointed me,' his father had said.

Jason didn't know which had hurt more. _The last one_ , something whispered in the back of his mind and the ex-footballer couldn't deny it.

He hadn't expected his Saturday to see him in hospital or the better part of his day to be spent staring at his injured knee or the TV. Saturday detention had ended an hour ago, something that Jason would be acquainting himself with soon enough. His father having had to leave for work and Jason was feeling really alone.

"You wearing one of those gowns that lets your ass hang out?" Jason's head snapped up at the voice in the doorway. Crystalia Zeo, in all her leather-jacketed and combat-booted glory, was leaning against the door frame, her hand over her eyes. "'Cause, I don't wanna cop an eyeful."

" _That_ ," Jason gestured to the hand over Crys' eyes, "would be a nice gesture if you weren't peeking through your fingers."

The girl spread the gap between her fingers wider and winked. Crys dropped her hands and jammed both of her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. Grinning and rocking back on her heels, the blonde asked with an air of superiority, "You _dare_ suggest that I would take advantage of the _vulnerable_ state that Angel Grove's star quarterback is in?"

"You ever thought about theatre?"

"Crossed my mind. Don't tell anyone, it would ruin my street cred." The blonde girl bit her lip, becoming more serious, "Am I allowed in?"

Jason nodded and gestured around the room as if to say 'I don't own this place.' Crys sauntered in and Jason had to remind himself to breathe as the Zeo girl plopped down on the hospital bed, beside his thigh.

"Last hospital room I was in wasn't this nice."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Crys didn't elaborate.

Jason breathed out through his nose for a moment. "Why are you here?"

"Is being _completely tactless_ usually a quality sought for in a footballer?"

The Scott boy turned red. "N—no! I just mean, we're not really _friends_ and we've never spoken before. You give off this vibe that you don't like anyone being near you. But here you are…in my hospital room."

 _A place not even my supposed-friends have visited me in_ , he added silently. Jason was bitter, despite not wanting to admit it. Only Damo, the friend he had done the failed prank with had visited, and that had only been once. Jason didn't know what he had expected but his friends actually checking to see if he was alright would've been great.

"No other visitors, huh?"

The footballer furrowed his brows, surprised at how easily Crys had guessed what was contributing to his troubles, "How—?"

"I'm psychic." Crys smirked, waving her hand, "Nah, I swiped the visitor's log off the nurse. If anyone asks, I'm you're girlfriend, we're deeply in love and if I lost you, I think I'd die. The feeling is mutual." Jason blinked slowly and Crys pursed her lips, "Anyway—"

"Why are you here?"

"Straight back to business."

"You gonna answer my question?"

"Can't I visit because I'm polite?"

"You don't strike me as _polite_."

"Uh, _rude_."

"I had to _haul_ you away from bashing someone's face in."

" _True_. Thanks for that, by the way. Colt 'Stupidest Name on the Planet' Wallace would've had a pancake for a face which would've ended up with me never seeing the light of day again."

Jason's face was deadpanned, impatiently waiting for the truthful answer as to why Crys was visiting him. Crys raised her brows back at him before she wrinkled her nose and flicked her golden hair over her shoulder.

" _Pushy_ …"

"Only when girls I don't really know show up in my hospital room." Jason raised his brows in a questioning manner, "So…?"

Crys shrugged, lacing her fingers together over her lap. "Uh…I was visiting someone already and thought 'Jason Scott is here, I should say hi.' Besides, I've had a knee-injury before and know that it's _hella_ boring."

Jason was so confused but grateful that she hadn't given him the third-degree on the details of the prank. Crys was just rambling to him like they were old friends and she hopped off the bed to look at the boy's chart that was hanging off the end of the bed. Jason didn't say a word about the slight-breach of privacy, too intrigued by the blonde girl in front of him.

She hummed, "Huh. Diagnosis of MCL with a recommendation for limited physical activity and bed rest for a few weeks. Which means, no school for a while. _Lucky_."

"What?"

"Didn't your doc explain this shit?" Crys inquired, head tilted in confusion. The Scott boy shook his head and Crys nodded, jumping into a simple explanation. "One of the ligaments in your knee have snapped which is called MCL—Medial Collateral Ligament. I won't bore you with explaining that but your knee injury is probably a grade two injury and should only take two to four weeks to heal. But that being said, this particular knee injury will cause occasional weakness in your knee. Basically, it might give out from time to time and you might have issues with playing sport."

Jason frowned, "How do you know so much?"

"I'm into medicine," Crys replied simply and dropped back down onto the bed, this time nudging Jason to the side so she could sit right beside, leaning against the headboard. "How's the daytime TV in this place? And is hospital food really as bad as people say it is?"

Jason just blinked silently.

Crystalia Zeo was certainly something else.

 **XXXXX**

"You got me up when the sun was _barely_ in the sky for _this_."

Saf shrugged, gazing out over the cliff. Her blonde strands flew around her head gracefully and the cool breeze stung her cheeks to a light pink. "Well, yeah. It's private property here so to actually make it up here, we needed to trek for a while. Hence, the early rise."

Trini scowled but she couldn't deny that the view in front of her was amazing.

And the cliff was okay too.

"What are we even _doing_ here?"

"Yoga."

The dark-haired girl raised her brows at her girlfriend. " _Excuse me_?"

" _Trini_ ," Saf pouted. Her sunny disposition was really being brought down by the Kwan girl's attitude. "I know you love the outdoors and _here_ we can just relax. We can pretend that nothing else exists."

"Like school?"

Saphira smiled lightly, "And our inability to be honest with our parents."

Trini cracked a smile. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Teach me yoga."

 **XXXXX**

Crys stayed with Jason Scott for a few hours, until half-past-five when she had to leave. They spoke about everything and nothing – hobbies, interests and dreams for the future. They bonded over one specific one which they kept circling back to.

 _Escaping Angel Grove_.

Jason felt _normal_ the entire time Crys was sitting beside him, laughing over whatever he said or what was on TV. He didn't feel like Jason Scott, former star quarterback and teen screw-up who threw away his future for a stupid prank that ultimately failed. He felt like Jason, just Jason, the boy sitting beside the girl he had crushed on for years—the boy who was making Crystalia Zeo laugh.

He wouldn't admit that his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach when Crys checked her phone and saw the time. Quickly, she began to gather her bag and her jacket. The Zeo girl lied to him; she said that she had to go home and that she had lied before about having to go to the hospital and claimed that she had specifically visited just to see him.

Jason didn't believe her but he let it slide.

"You really have to go?"

Crys paused in throwing her bag over her shoulder. She bit her lip as she met Jason's eyes. He looked lonely, it shone in his eyes, but he tried to keep it off his face. "Yeah. I do. Sorry, Jason."

His face fell a bit, "It's okay."

"Want me to come visit again tomorrow?"

Jason's eyes widened in surprise, "You'd do that? Waste your Sunday here so I'm, what, not lonely?"

Crys pointed a finger gun at Jason and clicked her tongue. "Exactly. But seriously? Like I have anything better to do." The blonde stopped at the door, smiling sweetly back at the boy in the hospital bed, "Besides, hanging out with you was really nice today."

"It was nice hanging out with you too," Jason admitted and watched as Crys' smile widened and she headed out of the room. The Scott boy smiled goofily before he frowned, realizing aloud, "The exit's the other way."

 **XXXXX**

"Okay, now breathe."

"I am breathing!"

"Then breathe better!"

Trini swung around to eye her girlfriend, who still looked stunning in the dusk. "You are a _terrible_ teacher. 'Breathe better.' How does that help anyone?"

Saf burst into laughter at the look on Trini's face. Her hands were balanced on her hips and her mouth was twisted into a scowl, although her eyes held amusement. "It really doesn't," the blonde admitted, "but this place does. It's so…" She trailed off, unable to describe how the wide-open space on top of the hill made her feel.

" _Free_ ," Trini supplied. "How'd you even find this place?"

The Moore girl lay down on the ground, letting her blonde strands fan out on the ground. "Crys brought me actually. She said it helped her think about all the shit in her life and taught me the way—said I could come here whenever I want."

Trini lay down beside her girlfriend and laced their fingers together. "I'm glad she did. It's really nice here. You can see the sun and everything below us—I feel like we're the queens of the world."

"I like that."

"I'm glad you do."

"Still doesn't get you out of doing yoga."

The Kwan girl's smile dropped, "Damn."

 **XXXXX**

Kyanite Zeo had deteriorated since the last time Crys had seen him. He was now permanently pale, his crystalline eyes looking sunken into his face and his brown hair lay messily around his face. His lean body had thinned even further but his smile was just as bright as it usually was when he laid eyes on who he playfully called his 'pride and joy.'

"Hi, dad," Crys greeted quietly as she slipped into the hospital room a floor down from Jason's. "Sorry I'm a bit late."

Kyanite Zeo pulled a face, "Don't bullshit me. You're early."

"I am," Crys agreed with an innocent smile that clearly said that she knew exactly what she was doing. "I had to make sure you didn't move the appointment up so that I would miss it, even if I came at six. Right now, it's only half-five."

"I didn't change—"

A nurse appeared in the doorway, "Mr Zeo, you'll be going into the operating room in five minutes."

"You liar," Crys accused, sitting down on the bed beside her father. "You really thought you were going to get away with it?"

Ky had the decency to look a bit embarrassed but he pursed his lips and shook his head vehemently, "I had no part in that. That was purely coincidental."

"I'm sure it was, dad." Crys lost the teasing quality to her voice and reached out to loop her fingers around Ky's thin wrist. "How are you feeling?'

"Like I can run a mile." Crys didn't laugh. Her bottom lip just quivered and the Zeo man immediately pulled her into his chest, allowing his daughter to bury her face into his shoulder. "Oh, my little gem. You know I don't mean it like that."

The teenager sniffled and pulled away, scrubbing at her face. "I know. I don't even know why I'm taking all of this so hard, it's _you_ who's going through it."

Kyanite kept his pale gaze on his daughter. She was so beautiful and had grown into a strong young woman. The Zeo man sometimes saw a younger version of Willow when he looked at Crys, seeing that same wide-eyed gaze and that gentle smile. Willow had captivated the British exchange student the second he had seen her and despite his inability to realize she was attracted to _him_ , he had trouble hiding that fact that he was attracted to _her_.

The day Willow had called to tell Ky about their daughter, he had returned from an expedition and had only been a short distance away from where his ex-girlfriend had lived. He hadn't know about the pregnancy at the time but the second he knew, he had offered to drive to Willow's house and meet up with her.

Ky had promised himself that he wouldn't feel anything for Willow but all his love for her came rushing back as soon as he saw her, despite the fact that her fiancé was sitting on the couch just behind her. He had once again been captivated by her eyes and her hair and then her stomach—the stomach round with his child. Primal possessiveness and utter devotion had flashed through him at that sight.

"Dad?"

"Did I ever tell you about the day I found out you were mine?" Ky asked abruptly.

Crys frowned slightly at the question. "I don't think so."

"I cried when she told me," Ky mumbled, brushing his daughter's hair away from her face. "I cried and I refused to let your mother go—we just sat on the couch and I put my cheek against your mother's stomach. I don't think Eugene even minded all too much that I clung onto her and I really didn't care. I stayed with them for the week break I had before another expedition and I carried your mother around and refused to let her carry anything while I was there."

"She told me about that," Crys smiled. She remembered how her mother told her that she got her protective nature from her father. "You promised you wouldn't let anything happen to her."

"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to the _both_ of you."

The tears welled in Crys' eyes again. "You sound like you're saying goodbye."

"I am."

"Please don't."

"I _need_ to," Kyanite pleaded. He was scared, although he wouldn't admit it. After his surgery, the doctors would finally tell him what would happen to him in the near future. If he would survive to see his daughter get married. If he would even survive to see his daughter graduate. The surgery alone had a less than fifty-percent chance of survival. "You're stubborn like your mother but _please_ , just listen to me."

"Okay."

Ky grasped his daughter's hands in his weak ones and held them tight. "You are my greatest achievement. I'm a thirty-five-year-old who collects rocks, so I'm not sure how much that means to you but I could not be prouder of you."

Crys leant forward, pressing a kiss to her father's forehead, "That means an _infinite_ amount to me, dad."

A small group of nurses walked in, the head nurse gesturing to the door, "If you would step out, Miss. Your father is going into surgery now."

"Shortest five minutes of my life," Crys attempted to joke weakly. She kissed her father's cheek as he was wheeled out passed her in his wheeled bed, "I love you!"

"I love you too!" Ky called back as he disappeared from view.

Crys collapsed to her knees in the now-empty room. Her chest tightened and her arms looped around her body. She couldn't call anyone to comfort her – she had promised Ky that she wouldn't tell Willow – and she really didn't want to let anyone see her like this. Crys was stubborn and relied on herself as much as she could.

 _But God it hurt_. It wasn't even guaranteed that Ky would survive the surgery, let alone everything that came after. _Fifty-percent_ and if he did survive, he might never walk again.

Crystalia broke into sobs, crying alone in the hospital room.

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **I. ADORE. THIS. STORY**

 **This chapter is really quite sad at the end but I love the Crys/Jason moments. And Saf/Trini is just so damn cute.**

 **Please review, follow and favorite!**

 **~ Raven**


	4. THREE

_**THREE | HOSPITALS ARE DEMONIC DESTROYERS OF THE SOUL**_

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

* * *

 **THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO** ** _chelsnichole12_ , _Kreivan Reyhers,_ _Gwendolyn Yuki, 7upvodka,_** ** _Love..Fiction.2017,_** ** _musicluver246_ AND** ** _SimplyKelly_ FOR REVIEWING THIS STORY. THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME HOW MUCH YOU ENJOY THIS STORY DESPITE IT'S INCREDIBLY SLOW UPDATES, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!**

* * *

 **[ONE WEEK LATER]**

Kyanite Zeo was bored.

The hospital, since his ultimately-useless surgery, had only become drearier once his hopes of leaving the place had been dashed.

And it wasn't like he could get up and _walk_ around. So, he had been confined to bed rest by his intelligent, and rather pretty, nurse. But despite the way that Ky flirted with his nurse, Diane, he had no interest in any romance.

At least, not with someone who wasn't Willow.

For that thought alone, Ky wanted to kick himself. Willow had moved on – she was happy with her husband and both her daughters. But still, that didn't stop him and Kyanite pined for someone who wasn't his and probably wouldn't ever be his again.

The man heaved a sigh and reached for the worn copy of _The Princess Bride_. Never once had he felt ashamed of _The Princess Bride_ being his favorite book and he had passed on that love to his daughter, who held her own copy close to her heart.

He cracked open the book that he had read a million times before his stay in the hospital and probably would read a million more times during his time in the hospital but he welcomed the familiar feeling of the fraying binding and soft leather cover.

Familiar enough to make him feel the more happy nostalgia for the times he spent beneath a tree on the grounds of the university, his beautiful Willow in his arms as he read aloud to her in the warm summer days.

 **XXXXX**

Willow was watching her eldest with judging eyes, trying to understand what the _Hell_ was going on.

Crys was standing by the bench, an oven mitt on one hand and her phone in the other. A batch of triple chocolate cookies was baking in the oven, an already-baked batch sitting beside Crys. She had actually slapped her mother's hand away when Willow had tried to take one.

"You're scaring me," Willow blurted out bluntly after watching her sarcastic daughter smile for the fifth time at her phone. "You're being… _nice_." She paused when Crys didn't look up. "Who're talking to?"

Crys straightened up, angling her phone away from Willow. She fixed a sweet smile on her face, "Uh…dad. I'm talking to dad."

Willow pursed her lips, calling her out, " _Liar_. Is it a boy?" A shift of her feet. "A boy I've met?" Another shuffle. The Moore woman changed her tactic, "Where have you been going lately?"

"The hospital," the younger blonde admitted without thinking on it too much, eyes back to being glued to her phone screen to avoid looking at her mother. Willow had an unnerving talent of simply being able to look at a person and find out the truth; it was something that Crys was quite good at too when she wanted to.

"Why would— _oh my God_!" Willow exclaimed in realization, her eyes as wide as saucers. Billy had been over at the beginning of the week and had entertained Willow and Saf with a tale about a prank that involved a cow in the locker-room of the high school and ended with the quarterback in hospital. "You've been going to see _Jason Scott_!"

Crys stayed silent and spun around to grab the cookies from the oven. Willow bounced up from the stool she was seated on, almost collided with the bench and craned her neck to stare at her daughter's face. Crys moved away with the baking tray and Willow followed, leading to a small game of cat-and-mouse before Willow trapped the young blonde near the fridge and stared into her eyes.

Crys blinked.

"Oh my God!" Willow repeated. "You have! The cookies—they're for him!" She jumped up and down repeatedly, "You like Jason Scott. You like Jason Scott!"

The Zeo girl tossed her head back and circled around her mother. "Mom, stop being such a _drama queen_. We're _just_ friends, stop reading so much into _nothing_."

"But you like him."

" _Nope_."

"But you want to be more than ' _just_ friends.'"

" _Nope_."

"But you—"

"Mom!" Saf yelled, almost tripping down the stairs in her hurry. Her hair was wildly tangled and her three-quarter-sleeved, white blazer was only half-on. Her nerves was getting the best of her and it was clear.

Crys lifted her eyes to the ceiling, "Oh, thank God."

Willow shot Crys a look that clearly said _this isn't over_ before she turned to her youngest, "Yes, darling?"

The youngest blonde immediately burst into conversation with her mother. Saf had been offered a position at a hospital as a nurse-in-training. At only sixteen, Saf was proving to be very good in medicine and utilizing homeopathic remedies to help people, so the small hospital in Angel Grove had granted her two weeks of working with the patients that could fast-track her to an Ivy League university.

Crys was really proud of her younger sister but refused to stick around so that Willow could interrogate her further. The blue-eyed girl gathered up her cookies, waved at Saf from behind their mother and flew from the house like a bat out of Hell.

Willow didn't even notice Crys escape from the house and begin her trek to the hospital. It wasn't miles away but it certainly wasn't a walk in the park. The Zeo girl really didn't mind all too much; she had her headphones and her bag of cookies, so she was happy.

When the blonde reached the hospital and made it to Jason's room, she wiggled the bag of cookies at him, "I come bearing gifts."

Jason brightened immediately at the sight of Crys, rather than the cookies. "Hey."

"Hi," Crys chirped as she wandered further into the room. Jason's father cleared his throat awkwardly from the corner of the room, seeing how his son reacted to the girl in the doorway. The Zeo girl's eyes widened as she realized who was there and she stuck out a hand, feigning confidence, "Oh, hello. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Crys."

Sam Scott's eyes widened, having heard Jason sing the praises of someone named 'Crys.' He had assumed that Crys was a footballer on the team and he had certainly not expected the petite blonde girl standing in front of him. But there was a fire in her eyes and a testing nature behind her smile that kept Sam silent.

He finally extended his hand, "Sam. It's nice to meet you. Jason's told me a lot about you."

"Has he?" Crys hefted brow at Jason, who blushed lightly. She turned back to Sam, "I can come back later if you want, Mr Scott."

"Call me Sam," the man instructed with a smile and waved Crys' offer away. "Don't worry, I was just leaving."

Both teenagers waved at the man before Crys was wandering over to the hospital bed and dropping the bag of cookies into Jason's lap. The boy immediately reached for them and Crys teased, "Still not used to the crappy hospital food?"

Jason shot her a look, indicating that the question shouldn't have even been asked. The blonde raised her hands in surrender and wordlessly, the Scott boy maneuvered to the side of the bed. For the past week, Crys and Jason had had the same dynamic—Crys would visit during the week and on Saturday, after detention, and would occasionally visit on Sundays and they would talk about anything while they sat side-by-side. Crys would spend a few hours with Jason, laughing and teasing each other, before she would leave to visit her father.

Kyanite had made it through surgery but he wasn't out of the woods just yet. Crys was taking it hard but being around Jason was distracting her and making her loosen up a bit. She was far more relaxed when visiting her father after spending time with Jason, something Ky had noticed and was more than willing to admit he was happy about it.

Crys stole a cookie, " _So_ …when are you getting out of this Hellhole?"

"Hopefully tomorrow." Jason dusted cookie crumbs off his hands, "Then I'll be resting my knee at home and then—"

"—to the detention room!" Crys interrupted with false enthusiasm. Jason furrowed his brow and the blonde bumped her shoulder against his, "Don't grumble, Jay. I've got Saturday detention for the rest of the year."

"I do too."

"Well then, don't pout, Scott. Makes me feel underappreciated." Crys draped her jacket over the nearby chair. She stretched her arms over her head and then pulled her _Batman_ top back down to cover the sliver of stomach that was showing. She shot Jason a knowing look, "You'd miss me if I stopped visiting."

"Wouldn't want that, would we?"

"Definitely not," Crys shook her head adamantly. She bopped Jason's nose with the tip of her finger, "You'd probably end up dead. I can see the headlines: _disgraced quarterback dies due to toxic mystery meat_. We're in a hospital; that shit's probably made out of corpses."

Jason cringed and eyed the plate of meatloaf on the other side of the room. It had arrived about an hour before Crys had and he hadn't touched it; it…smelt _weird_. From the distance, Jason almost tricked himself into believing the weird, sticking-out piece of 'mystery meat' was a finger and that made him almost gag. " _Vicious_. I'll never think about meatloaf the same way."

"Now I know you're imagining it. I feel proud of myself."

"Did you come here just to mess with me? Do you get a kick out of it?"

Crys smirked, "It's my reason for living."

"Yeah, that and spreading your sarcasm."

"Hell yeah," Crys flipped her hair sassily and Jason spluttered when her pale blonde locks hit him in the face. The Zeo girl burst into laughter and flopped onto the bed, reclining comfortably into the pillows.

The pair lapsed into silence, nibbling on cookies and watching _Gone Girl_ which made Crys want to tear her hair out. She didn't do so well with watching the same show or movie more than once—no matter how good it was—and she usually ended up blurting out what was going to happen.

But she was trying exceptionally hard to keep her mouth shut, for the sake of Jason, who had yet to see the movie—"She's alive!"

"Crys!" Jason scolded lightly and the girl slapped her hand over her mouth. The Scott boy gave Crys a mock-annoyed look, poking at her stomach. The girl squirmed away from him, grinning and not looking sorry in the slightest. Jason could see the sparkle of amusement in her eyes. "Oh, come on. Did you have to ruin the movie for me?"

The Zeo girl wrinkled her nose again, a favorite of hers when she was with Jason. "Uh, it wasn't a very good movie. That woman—" she gestured vaguely at the main female character, Amy, "—is a manipulative cow!"

"Still didn't need to spoil—"

"Shut up and eat your cookies."

 **XXXXX**

Everything was going straight over Saf's head.

The hospital was truly lovely but names, faces and specific rooms were becoming lost on Saphira. She was barely focusing on anything other than the fact that she was actually _there_ , in the hospital. It was a dream come true that the blonde wasn't sure she would actually remember once she got home.

She _did_ know that she would remember how cozy Jason and Crys looked when she passed the former-quarterback's room. Willow would absolutely lose it when Saf told her as soon as she got home.

A white, doctors' coat was tossed over her mint-green pleated dress and her white wedge heels tapped across the tiled floor as she followed the nurse assigned to show her around. For a second, Saf wondered if she had overdressed but that thought was gone as quickly as it came when she became immersed in the hospital again.

"I'll be showing you to the Chemotherapy Ward," the unnamed nurse said over her shoulder, flashing her with a kind smile.

Guilt at not learning the nurse's name flowed through the Moore girl as she returned the smile. "Okay."

"Now," the nurse commented, "the Chemotherapy Ward is what we call the floor where all out cancer patients stay. The rooms are separated into severity, relapsing and children. I just wanted to warn you that it is a bit confronting."

Saf shook her head, "I don't care about how confronting it is. I can't even imagine how confronting it must be for family members of those in the ward."

The nurse beamed, a sort of pride shining from her at Saf's intellectual words, "You're going to be terrific here. Here we are." The dark-haired woman pushed open the door of the closest room, "Hey, trouble."

'Trouble' slowly placed the book he was reading down, looking the tiniest bit annoyed at being interrupted. "Diane, what holy deed have I done to get you to bless me with your presence on this fine day?"

 _Diane_ , Saf mentally noted as she eyed the man in the bed. He looked familiar but she just couldn't place it. His words were molded by a slightly-diluted British accent and his voice was raspy, like he hadn't used it for a while. She didn't want to step right up close to the bed to get a better look and hovered beside Diane a few feet away.

"Nothing, I'm cursing you," Diane scoffed. "I'm blessing this lovely today, I'm showing her around. But I do appreciate the sarcasm; have you gotten a visit from your daughter recently?"

'Trouble' shook his head, his shaggy hair brushing along his face. "I do not need to be in constant contact with my daughter to be sarcastic. Besides, my little gem is spending time with her not-boyfriend boyfriend who makes her smile more than I've ever seen her before. I find it incredibly provoking."

Diane tilted her head and shrugged, "I think Gem called it _triggered_. At least, that's apparently what teenagers say."

 _My little gem_ and even just _Gem_ sparked a fuse in Saf's head. Where had she heard that before?—the Moore girl gasped, finally placing the voice and face. But…that couldn't be possible. If _he_ was in hospital, Crys would've told them, right? But if it was him, it implied that he _wasn't_ getting better, no matter what he said and it was only so, _so_ much worse than they thought.

Saf stepped out from behind Diane, hoping desperately that she was wrong.

"Uncle Kyanite?"

 **XXXXX**

Willow eyed the papers apprehensively.

Did she want this? Was she even sure?

Oh God, was she overreacting and speaking out loud to herself again. Willow paused; no, she wasn't, she decided, before her mind swirled back to the papers.

The decision wasn't going to be simple. At first, she had decided to wait until her girls were finished school and had moved out. Saphira could go anywhere she wanted if she really pushed herself, as would Crystalia, but Willow knew that her eldest was just desperate to finally leave Angel Grove.

Willow had tricked herself into believing that waiting would make the decision simpler, that it would give her a sense of _yes, it's the right choice_ but she hadn't gotten much evidence of that.

But could making this choice, which would not only effect herself but her daughters as well, the right thing to do? Especially without speaking to them first. The pressure was growing to tell them—the pressure to make sure that she told them that she was so desperately unhappy was making her defenses chip away, one tiny bit at a time.

Willow broke out into silent tears. She buried her face into her hands and sniffled. Did she not deserve happiness? Because that was how it seemed; the blonde woman was so _lonely_. And she felt something that she hoped she never would.

She was falling out of love with Eugene.

Or was she never really _in love_ with him in the first place?

The Moore woman shook her head; it wouldn't have been like this if she had just held onto Kyanite. In the back of Willow's mind, she knew it was a mistake when she had pushed Ky away and that was slowly ripping her apart. She wouldn't love anyone like she loved Ky but it had been what was best for _Kyanite_ and his future.

But there was no use feeling sorry for herself and begging for a time machine to turn go back to what was.

Willow wiped her tears away, taking in a ragged breath as she carefully slid the papers into her draw. She'd think about it later, she decided, and plastered a sunny smile onto her face as she walked to the downstairs room dubbed 'the Batcave' in her house.

Maybe painting in her studio would help her decide. Or even just sitting down to read her favorite book— _The Princess Bride_.

 **XXXXX**

"I'm not joking!" Crys exclaimed with a smile as she watched Jason almost laugh his way off the bed. She'd just told the Scott boy about one of her earlier attempts at science experiments, this one having ended up with her _accidently_ propelling a car into the air, via fire-hydrant.

Jason finally managed to catch his breath. "Did you get in trouble with the cops?"

"I was only _eleven_ , Jason," Crys crossed her arms. "I was let off with a warning. I thought it would be worse because it was an officer's car that I _borrowed_. I think he moved to Turtle Cove not long after…"

They both started laughing, completely relaxed in the calm environment. The cookies were long gone and now the pair were just getting to know each other better. Crys was proving to be a lot more relaxed and funny than she let on at school, something that Jason had been grateful for. He'd seen her crystalline eyes and cheerful smile nearly every day for the past week and it had pushed the fact that he hadn't had any other visitors to the back of his mind.

"So a _criminal_ has been visiting me in hospital?"

"If someone has been caught for multiple counts of breaking and entering and destruction to private property— _all in the name of science_!—and has never been put in prison, than yes," Crys admitted easily with a scoff, "a _criminal_ has been visiting you in hospital."

The pair lapsed into silence and a look overtook Crys' face. Jason tried to place it—she was just staring straight ahead with a mixture of absolute exhaustion and misery. She had been laughing not ten seconds ago and now she looked as if her heart was breaking. He had learnt that she overthought things a lot and that even a second of quiet made the Zeo girl immediately start contemplating something else. Sometimes—a lot of the time, if he was being honest with himself—Jason questioned what the real reason was for Crys' presence in the hospital. He'd feel insulted that she hadn't told him the truth if they had known each other better but he wasn't going to pressure her.

Jason leant forward, careful of his knee and grasped Crys' hand. Her eyes immediately snapped to his. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing—"

"Don't lie to me," Jason interrupted. His voice was stern but edged with affection for the girl beside him and Crys could hear it easily in his voice. She hoped she wasn't blushing. "What's wrong?"

Crys shook her head slowly, closing her eyes for a moment. She opened her mouth just as a nurse knocked on the door, dark hair in wild tangles like she had just ran to the room, "Gem!"

"Diane?" Crys asked in confusion and then the confusion morphed to terror. "Is everything alright?"

"No! I was showing Miss Moore around and I didn't even think, I just showed her to the ward and went inside. She followed and—"

The blonde girl got up from Jason's bed and placed her hands on Diane's shoulders. "Slow down, Di. Miss Moore as in Saf? Where is she?"

The nurse looked incredibly guilty as she met Crys' gaze. "In Chemotherapy Ward Three."

Crys pressed her fingertips to her eyelids, "Shit!" She fiddled with the gold rings on her fingers—a nervous habit of hers that Jason had become highly attuned to during the time they'd known each other—before she spun around to face Jason, "I am so sorry but I need to go. I'll try to stop by tomorrow."

The Zeo girl collected her bag and, without thinking too much of it, pressed her lips to Jason's cheek in goodbye. Jason stayed frozen, watching Crys and Diane disappear from the room. His cheek felt warm where Crys' lips had been and he couldn't stop his automatic reaction to beam a smile and fist-bump the air.

 **XXXXX**

Saf still didn't understand.

Her lips were parted as she stared at the bedridden Kyanite Zeo. She had known that he had some type of disease and had been sick nearly all his life but she hadn't expected it to be this serious—it had never left him stuck in bed before.

Ky had always been 'Uncle Kyanite,' the only man aside from her own father that Saf trusted. He had actually been named Saf's godfather—something that Saf knew that her father hadn't been _thrilled_ about—and he had helped pick her name. If not for Ky, Saphira would've been walking around with a relatively boring name like 'Dorothy' or 'Jane' (courtesy of her father) and would never been supported in her obsession with medicine.

Sometimes, Saf thought about how much she owed Ky for being a constant figure in her life. She often wondered if she loved him more too, especially when he called her during the time she was beginning to realize that she liked girls and they would just talk. He would brighten Saf's mood and make her stop worrying about what her father thought.

"How…how has this happened?" Saf breathed out, her lower lip wobbling. "Clearly this is serious. We could've been supporting you and Crys…Why didn't she say anything?"

The Zeo man reached out a hand to clasp his god-daughter's. "Because I told her not to. Don't be too hard on her, Saf. Her heart is in the right place."

Saf sniffed but nodded. She knew that Crys was loyal to a fault, even more so when it came to her father. But still, it stung that her sister hadn't told her the truth. The Moore girl wiped her damp eyes before she asked strongly, "Are you dying?"

"If you want me to be philosophically pessimistic, then yes, we all are."

"You know what I mean, Ky…"

The British man stayed silent for a few more moments. The silence stretched on and Saf's knee began to bounce anxiously. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as Kyanite looked down to his lap. "If it takes that long to say, I already know the answer."

"Saphira, I—"

Crys took that moment to burst into the hospital room, Diane right on her heels. The blonde girl smiled as soon as she saw her father. For a second, Crys looked like a little girl again, that happy glow back on her face and it made Saf's heart ache. Was this what she was going to lose—her beloved uncle and the moments when her older sister was well and truly happy?

The elder blonde literally skipped over and sat down on the bed beside her father. "Dad, how are you feeling?"

Ky shot his daughter a shit-eating grin, "Better that you're here, you wonderful explosion of sarcasm." Crys gave her father a dead look which was tinged with affection and the man continued, "Now all three of my favorite girls are in the same room."

The Zeo girl made a face, "Gross, dad. Keep it in your pants. Diane might like the comments but that doesn't mean Saf and I need to hear them."

"Purely platonic," Diane assured the girl and winked at Ky. They were like best friends who had been close for years and knew each other inside and out. Ky winked back and Crys rolled her eyes at the adults' antics.

Crys swung around to fix her pale eyes on her sister, "Now, little sis, we've gotta talk."

" _No_ , you don't say…"

"Hey!" Crys swung her arms up and placed her hands on her hips. Her bottom lip even edged out in a pout, a very un-Crys thing to do, which made Saf smile for the first time since she entered the room. "No need for the sarcasm! That's my thing."

 **XXXXX**

"Hey, bro!" Jason's friend, Damo, cheered as he entered the hospital for the first time since Jason was admitted. "How's it hanging, dude?"

Jason didn't even try to keep the frustration of his face. Damo hadn't visited— _none_ of his so-called friends had visited him—and worse, Damo had allowed Jason to take the entire fall for the failed prank. Jason could barely even remember why he agreed to the prank but he supposed it had to do with him being the _golden boy_ of Angel Grove—the most popular, most likely to succeed. Everyone expected so much of him—so much _perfection_ —but he wasn't perfect and maybe, the failed prank was finally enough proof of that. The Scott boy didn't care about _succeeding_ , he just wanted out of the small, dead-end town that made him want to tear his own hair out at the sheer boredom of the place.

Damo continued rambling on, missing the look on his friend's face. "Cool digs! I was just in the cafeteria and the food is _great_." The boy threw himself into the seat and grabbed the plate of meatloaf, digging in. Jason cringed and then glared at the way his friend rumpled Crys' leather jacket that she had left behind accidently.

"What do you want, Damo?" Jason asked tiredly. A weariness had seeped into him at the sight of his footballer friend. With Crys, Jason could be _just_ Jason, without any pretenses or fake smiles.

"Just checking up on you, bud," Damo said through a mouthful of food. "Is it true that _Crystalia Zeo_ has been visiting you? I mean, she's so cold at school but so _hot_ at the same time. And she's visiting you! Maybe I should break my arm or something so I can _tap_ —"

" _Don't_ finish that sentence," Jason stated menacingly. He was highly protective of Crys and a single sexual comment would send Jason out of bed—busted knee be damned—and his fist flying into his supposed-best friend's face. Something burnt in his chest at Damo's words and Jason was just a tiny bit terrified of naming it correctly as _jealousy_. Jealousy that someone else could walk past and sweep Crystalia Zeo off her feet and make her smile and laugh in the same way Jason did.

Jason shoved the thought away and refocused on the other boy, who raised his hands in surrender and gulped. "Uh, totally, dude. I won't say a word. I mean, she's not your girl but you're probably getting action whenever she comes to see you—"

" _Get_. _Out_."

"W—what?" Damo stuttered, confusion written clearly on his face. He had a crossed a line that he hadn't even seen and had just continued to steamroll passed it with his big mouth. He put the fork and plate down. "Jason, I just got here. I came to see you, man."

Jason scoffed, "I've been here for a while and Crys is the only one who's visited me. And I am _not_ getting _action_ because Crys is my friend and deserves more respect than being seen as just an object, yeah? Now, get out or you might just find yourself in the bed next to me."

Damo hightailed it out of there real quick. Jason let out a sigh and leant his head back into the pillow with a grin, thoughts of Crystalia Zeo on his mind.

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **THREE THINGS.**

 **One, I changed the prologue up a bit, please check that out.**

 **Two, do you like the new cover?**

 **Three, this story is one of my favorite stories that I've written.** **What do you think!?**

 **So, Jason is starting to feel for Crys and she's starting to feel for him too! And Damo, Mr "I Milked Her Before We Got Here," is an absolute tool that Jason shoved in his place. I loved writing that part.**

 **But Ky is alive! Oh my God, you didn't think I was actually going to kill him off two chapters in, did you!? Nah, I wouldn't do that to you but I will write more about why he's sick and what's going to happen with him. And Willow is rethinking her life? I couldn't resist having** ** _The Princess Bride_** **as a shared favorite story. I love** ** _The Princess Bride_** **and this entire family is a dysfunctional, more-than-one-person version of me.**

 **Sorry for the long A/N but please review!**

 **~ Raven**


	5. FOUR

_**FOUR | COME ONE, COME ALL TO THE SCOTT RESIDENCE. FEATURING: AWKWARDNESS**_

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

* * *

 **THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO** ** _Gwendolyn Yuki, Love..Fiction.2017_** **AND** _ **Kia'Vaizel**_ **FOR REVIEWING. I AM SO, SO HAPPY WITH ALL THE AMAZING REVIEWS I'M GETTING FOR THIS STORY! THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

* * *

Being in a house with the two Scott men was quite easily the most awkward thing on the planet, Crys decided.

Sam Scott still wasn't sure what Crystalia Zeo's presence in his home meant and Crys could _feel_ the annoyance at his father radiating off Jason. She knew that they had somewhat of a tense relationship—if Jason's posture and scowl said anything about it—and she felt like she was imposing on what should have been a family-only matter.

Crys had tried to inch towards the front door but had immediately stopped as soon as Jason fixed her with a look that clearly said _don't even think about it_. She gave him a watery smile and shifted from foot-to-foot, watching silently as Jason rebuffed his father's attempt to help him into the house.

Only once Jason had fallen onto his bed, released a sigh of relief and almost threw the crutches he was using on the floor, did Crys enter the room. She looked around, taking in how one wall was covered, almost floor to ceiling, in posters, photos and awards. His bed covers were pulled tight, clearly made by someone _other_ than a teenage boy, and his shoes were lined up beside his bed. A small fish tank sat in the corner of the room, glowing a luminescent blue and Crys smiled at it as she dropped into the desk chair.

"So…" Crys nibbled at her lip, eyes fixed on Jason. He was stretched out over his bed, his right arm thrown over his eyes like he was trying to sleep. "When you invited me over, did you plan on giving me the impression you would prefer that I wasn't here?"

Jason didn't say a word but held his left hand out. Crys took it and the Scott boy pulled her to him, making the Zeo girl collapse half-over him on the bed. Jason groaned as Crys' leg bumped his knee and she laughed into his shoulder. She was comfortable there, with him, so she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.

"I'm not moving."

"Come on, Crys. You're putting pressure on my knee!"

" _You_ pulled me here. Therefore, your fault."

"You're comfortable and too lazy to move, aren't you?"

Crys flipped her head back, moving to wink at Jason, "You know me _so_ well." The Zeo girl shifted, alleviating the pressure she was putting on Jason's injured knee. The boy gave a sigh of relief, which Crys took as a good sign, and she tucked her head back into his neck, resting her body back over his. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Other than the fact you're crushing my ribcage?" Jason asked sarcastically. Crys gave him a dead look and Jason sighed. "I know we've known each other for weeks but…"

"You're not ready to talk to me yet about it." Crys smiled, something that Jason could feel on his neck and made heat rush to his face, "That's okay, I get it. You haven't asked why I've _really_ been at the hospital, which I know has been _eating_ at you, so I'll respect your privacy."

They were silent for a few moments, rejoicing in the fact that they were just Crys and Jason, not social reject Crystalia Zeo and screw-up Jason Scott. The Scott boy was completely aware of how he could smell the light apple scent from Crys' hair as it cascaded over his shoulder and how he could feel the coolness of her gold rings against his bare arm. Both sensations sent shivers down his spine—he'd grown attached to Crystalia Zeo since the first moment she had appeared in the doorway of his hospital room, peeking through her fingers and smiling like she expected the world to fall into her lap.

"Because you make me happy."

Crys beamed, adjusting her head to rest against Jason's shoulder and her fingers stroked up his arm. She hadn't thought he would answer her question but the answer made that feeling—that warm fuzz in her chest—flare up. "You make me happy too, you know. With you, I feel like I can be—"

"—yourself," Jason finished for Crys. "Without those stupid labels."

"Or fake smiles at comments that make you want to punch yourself in the face."

The pair shared a laugh and Crys propped her head up, hovering over Jason. Her lips parted as she began to lean in—and she jumped away, almost tripping over her own feet in her rush to grab her phone (and distance herself from Jason) as it blared a loud, obnoxious and entirely personalized ringtone.

" _There's hydrogen and helium. Then lithium, beryllium. Boron, carbon everywhere_ —!"

"Billy!" Crys greeted quickly after sliding her thumb across the screen. She shot Jason a quick, apologetic look before she turned her back in a semblance of privacy. "What do you need, bud?"

" _You told me to call if I needed help_."

"And you need help," Crys inferred. She bit her lip before she headed over to her bag, fishing out a pen and notepad without complaint. Jason's eyes followed her as she uncapped the pen with her teeth and muttered around it, "Ready."

Billy rustled some pages for a moment. "' _The sun itself sees not until heaven clears_.'"

"That's Shakespeare's one-hundred and forty-eight sonnet. 'The sun itself sees not until heaven clears,'" Crys repeated as she copied it down in short-hand. She wandered over and half-collapsed on top of Jason again, her phone pressed between her ear and her shoulder. "You have a pen?"

The Zeo girl waited patiently, with a fond smile on her face, as she heard multiple pens hit the desk. Then Billy straightened and ordered them before giving her the ' _okay_.'

"Okay," Crys said before she launched into her spiel. "'Sun' could refer to many things and not just the literal interpretation. It could mean 'light,' which could refer to a sort of enlightenment and knowledge. 'Heaven' could refer to a sort of utopia or a divine state of existence when you're in love. Tell me what you think."

There was some scribbling noises on the other end of the line. Jason eyed Crys as she patiently waited, amazed by her tolerance and intellect. He had heard of how good she was at literature but he hadn't had the pleasure of hearing her effortlessly pick apart a sonnet and leave it open to interpretation for her equally-intelligent friend.

" _You cannot truly see all possibilities until you're not blinded by love_?" Billy offered tentatively. " _Is that right_?"

"It's all up to you, Billy. How _you_ see Shakespeare's work," Crys grinned. "Was that any help?"

" _Thanks, Crys. Have fun on your date with Jason_!"

Jason watched the red flare to life in Crys' cheeks at the words he couldn't hear. She glared heatedly at Jason's bedspread but he could still see the affection in her eyes. "Shut up! Don't call again today, William Cranston, 'cause I won't answer."

" _Rude, Crys_."

Crys' only answer was laughing at her best friend's adoption of her often-said phrase and ending the call.

 **XXXXX**

Saf tossed her head over the back of her desk chair and groaned loudly. She was at home, with Trini, and instead of doing something nice and 'couple-y' with her girlfriend, the Moore girl was slaving over documents and health and safety regulations. Saf's mother and father had gone to dinner somewhere after Willow had told both her daughters that she and Gene needed to 'chat' about something serious.

That had scared Crys shitless, Saf could tell, but she had merely smiled and offered her mother a distraction—she was going to be spending the afternoon with Jason Scott. Willow had squealed and insisted on picking out her eldest daughter's outfit.

Saf had stayed silent and disappeared into her room. Since finding out Kyanite was in hospital, she had found it difficult to look her mother in the eyes. The green-eyed girl couldn't find it within herself to look at Willow and lie to her every time she asked 'is something wrong?' Crys had begged Saf not to say a word to _anyone_ , not even their mother, so her usual response was 'I'm exhausted.'

She could tell Willow didn't believe her entirely.

"Take a break," Trini advised Saf from where she was, stretched out on the bed. She was dressed in a yellow sundress today, which brushed against the white leggings underneath it. Her knee-length boots sat beside her bed, which she lightly knocked her toes against.

Saf stared at her girlfriend, a conflicted look on her face. Trini was relaxed for a change and Saf desperately wanted to lay beside her and talk about nothing and everything. But her commitment—to the hospital, to her Uncle Ky, to keeping her promise to Crys—made her pause.

"I have to finish this, Trini," Saf muttered softly. The edge of sadness was in her voice and Trini could hear it clearly. "I _have_ to. I won't be able to hang out with you like you want me to but please, stay."

Trini watched as Saf turned slowly in her desk chair, bending over the work once again with her brow furrowed and her lips pinched together. The Kwan girl was happy to resign herself to silently listening to Saf's frantic scribbles along the page and resumed kicking her toes by her boots.

Both girls were simply happy in each other's company and Trini was okay with sitting, comforting Saf with her silence and admiring the swirling calligraphy which had begun a slow ascent to the ceiling of the Moore girl's room. Saf picked up the blue highlighter beside her and ran the colored edge along the title of the page.

 _Spinal Cancer_.

 **XXXXX**

Kimberly Hart had once said that Jason Scott was 'so hot that he could melt the polar ice caps.' Admittedly, she still thought that, two years later, and she stopped short when she saw him crossing the road. He seemed deep in thought and somewhat angry as he struggled to walk, his knee in a black brace.

The Hart girl wanted to race over to him. Once, she had seen Jason look at her the same way she occasionally looked at him.

Kim opened her mouth to call to the only other person on the otherwise deserted street but snapped her mouth shut at the last second. Someone else was hurrying towards Jason, calling out his name.

"Jason. Jason! I know you can hear me, just stop for a second!" Kim's eyes nearly fell out of her head as she recognized the person as Crystalia Zeo. There had been rumors floating around—about Jason and Crys' new bond—but nothing had been confirmed. But Kim could see the near-desperation on Crys' face as she ran after the former footballer. " _Jason_!"

Jason stopped abruptly, making Crys run into his back. She was almost eye-level with him and she stiffened her neck to avoid smacking her head into the back of Jason's. The boy spun around, anger written all over his face.

" _What_? What do I need to stop to hear? You sided with _him_."

"There are _no_ sides here. Don't fool yourself into thinking that there are!"

Jason scoffed, "You don't think I'm able to!"

" _No_ ," Crys responded strongly. Jason's mouth gaped open at the girl's answer and she breathed out through her nose. "No…I don't think you're able to. I _know_ football means a lot to you—probably more than anything else in this _universe_ —but you cannot play anymore. You'll only hurt yourself, Jason and I don't want to see that happen."

The Scott boy seemed to mull over Crys' words for a second. He had expressed his wish at rejoining the football team but both his newfound best friend and father had almost jumped down his throat at that suggestion. Jason understood why they had reacted that way but truthfully, he was just being a spoilt brat. And he knew it.

Somewhere in him, he was touched at how Crys cared—and he was highly aware of how, when she grabbed his hands, his heart beat faster and his breath caught. But it was like his filter had disappeared and he was painfully aware of it.

"It's _my_ life, stay the Hell out of it," fell from Jason's lips before he turned his back on Crys and kept hobbling down the street. He heard a small noise behind him, which sounded similar to a sob but he ignored it, too wrapped up in his own bitterness to care, despite how his heart clenched.

Kim stepped out from behind the car she was hiding behind (like a creep) and headed towards Crys. The Zeo girl was sitting on the curb, head in her hands and knees drawn up tight to her chest. She wasn't crying but she did look _pissed_.

"Hey…"

Crys snapped her head up and met Kim's eyes. There was no animosity in her icy-blue gaze, despite the fact that the girls had never actually been friends or really even spoken before. Both their reputations preceded them and they, due to the dumbass social stigma of high school, had never been in the same circles.

"Saw that did you?" There wasn't an ounce of venom in Crys' tone, just sad acceptance and Kim nodded. Crys gestured to the spot beside her, wordlessly asking if Kim was willing to listen to her rant. The Hart girl sat, her shoulder lightly bumping Crys' and the blonde sighed. "Stupid, right? We haven't even been friends for long and I've got it in my head that I can control his life."

"You care about him and he just can't see it." Kim crossed her arms over her chest as a cool wind blew past them. "It's not stupid."

They were silent for a few moments before Crys offered, "Wanna go somewhere? A café or somewhere, with heating?"

Kim stared at Crys. She looked small and beaten-down, her chin dropping to her chest. Something about her screamed vulnerability and a welcomed feeling sparked to life in Kim's chest, something she hadn't felt since her falling out with her friends. It was getting dark too and neither girl seemed to want to go home.

"Sure."

 **XXXXX**

Billy sat at his desk, his fingers twiddling with the wires. He'd promised Crys that he wouldn't do anything stupid ("don't be a stupid genius") but he knew that she was under a lot of pressure lately. She hadn't told anyone about what was happening with her but she no longer had much time to be over at the Cranston household.

Admittedly, Billy knew that Jason Lee Scott took up a lot of Crys' time but the Cranston boy was grateful for the time when Crys was not near him. It allowed him to finally finish Crys' birthday present.

His concentration was broken when his phone began to ring shrilly and Billy dropped his tools onto his workbench. "Hello, this is Billy speaking."

" _Bills_ ," Saphira Moore said by way greeting, " _I need your help_."

Billy blinked owlishly. Normally, Saf went to Crys first unless she needed help with something she didn't want Crys to know about. "With what?"

" _What…what do you know about spinal cancer_?"

"Enough to know that I should be asking _who has it_."

 **XXXXX**

Kim cracked up laughing, almost falling out of her seat in the nearly-empty diner. Crys had just finished imitating Mr Fredrickson and Kim was a little bit scared of how well she was able to imitate him. It got worse once they had realized that a few tables away, out of ear-shot, Mr Fredrickson himself was on a date with his fellow teacher, Ms Appleby.

Both girls gagged as Mr Fredrickson fed Ms Appleby a forkful of his pie.

"Um, _gross_." Crys stuck out her tongue, "It's not school hours; I should not be seeing _any_ of my teachers or be watching them have more of a love life than me."

Kim laughed and wiggled her eyebrows, "You have a love life. What's going on with you and _Jason_?"

" _Nothing_ ," the Zeo girl told her new friend adamantly. The brunette raised a disbelieving brow. "I'm serious. I thought… _maybe_ but clearly I'm not as important to him as he is to me. Besides, we haven't even known each other for long."

"And? What if you're just _meant to be_?"

"You've read too many trashy romance novels."

Kim huffed, throwing up her hands. "I think your lack of romantic inspiration is the reason why you don't have a love life."

"Says the cheerleader, who is also single," Crys retorted. "It's not a lack of romantic inspiration, it's the fact that I scowl at people, Kim. What's your excuse?"

The Hart girl shrugged, biting her lip and fiddling with the straw in her milkshake. She didn't want to admit that the only person she had ever been remotely interested in was the guy that Crys had just had a falling out with.

"You like Jason."

Kim's eyes widened and her head snapped up. Crys didn't look annoyed or jealous, further reminding Kim how little she actually knew about her new friend. The Zeo girl just looked contemplative.

"You should tell him."

" _No_!" Kim burst out and lowered her voice again. "I mean, no. Crys, I'm not even _really_ into Jason, I just think he's the best person in this—"

"Shithole of a town?"

The brunette clicked her fingers in agreement, "Exactly. I don't know…I just want _out_."

Crys smiled reassuringly, "I do too. I'm sure we will. Even if it's just us saving up enough for a bus ticket, I'm sure that we'll see more than just Angel Grove for the rest of our increasingly-boring lives."

Kim nodded slowly before she changed the subject, "Are you going to make up with him?"

The blue-eyed girl knew the ' _him_ ' in question was Jason—a.k.a the current bane of her existence. Crys was feeling an overwhelming tidal wave of emotion at the mere mention of the boy who, in a sort amount of time, had become one of her closest friends and confidants. Similarly to Kim when she was avoiding answering, she twirled her straw in her drink, making the bubbles froth to life again. "Yeah, I should."

Kim raised a brow once Crys didn't move. The blonde raised a brow as Kim waved a hand, "Well?"

"Hey! I'm finishing my milkshake before I go to find him." Crys pointed at her glass with raised brows and her lips pursed, "He's already messing with my emotions. He's _not_ messing with my food."

The Hart girl rolled her eyes but didn't try to keep the smile off her face at Crys' antics. She was glad that she had stopped to speak to the girl who, despite appearing harsh with her multiple piercings, sharp tongue and blue eyes which seemed to be able to see into your soul, was one of the nicest, most genuine human beings Kimberly Hart had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

 **XXXXX**

"We're not in high school, Will. Telling me 'this isn't working out' is not going to erase the fact that we have been married for sixteen years and have two daughters."

Nothing was ever simple with Eugene Moore. He had even admitted it himself that they were growing apart and that, maybe, it would be best for them to separate. But, apparently, when the words came from Willow's mouth, they carried more weight and he was immediately against the idea.

"We have _one_ daughter," Willow corrected sharply. Her two glasses of red wine were making her braver, more willing to tell Gene what she _truly_ thought. She loved him, yes, but Gene had a talent for spinning the story and making himself out to be the victim. "Crys is _Ky's_ daughter."

Gene scoffed, "Right! I should've known. This all goes back to Ky!"

She tried to bite her tongue, Willow really did. But the fuzz was in her brain and before she could stop herself, her mouth was open and the words were flying out. "I married you because I was young and I knew I couldn't raise a child by myself! You loved me and I cared for you and I was hoping that was enough. But _no_ ," she dragged out the 'o,' "you had to go through this entire marriage _jealous_ of a man I used to love."

" _Used to love!?_ " Gene demanded. "No! You _still_ love him. You've just been too cowardly to admit it, to leave me earlier."

"And when do you think I should've done that."

"Before we got married."

Willow drew in a sharp intake of breath. " _Saphira is a gift_ , Gene. I would not give up these years of marriage for the world because _she_ is what came out of it."

Gene slammed his knife and fork down. He had been about to eat the food in front of him, which had formerly been untouched as they had begun arguing almost as soon as they had arrived in the restaurant. He was sure that some people were staring at them like they were a reality TV show.

"That's another thing," the Moore man grumbled, his usually bright expression dark. " _Saphira_. We could've named her Melanie, after my mother, or Sandra, after my aunt. Hell, we could've named her _Katniss_ and I would've been happy. Because _we_ would've picked the name of our first child."

"Gene—"

"But no," Gene continued as if Willow hadn't spoken, "We named her _Saphira_. A name with Kyanite recommended and then, just to further stick it to me—right, Willow?—you named _him_ her godfather." He gestured angrily to the divorce papers he could see peeking out of Willow's bag, "Let me guess, as soon as I sign those goddamn papers, you'll go running back to him? Living out that perfect life with the love of your life and _your_ daughters and pretending your ex-husband doesn't exist?"

Willow blinked back the tears that began to collect in her eyes. Her voice was calm but it shook occasionally once she spoke, "I didn't want to fight with you. I didn't want to bring up the fact that I know you've cheated on me before. I didn't want to remind me that I tried to leave once before and you guilt-tripped me into staying. And I _certainly_ didn't want to tell you that I have _never_ , _ever_ truly loved you."

Gene sat back into his chair like he had just been slapped. He had expected that his harsh words would be received but not with Willow basically telling him where to stick it. He hadn't been aware that she had known of the woman he had met almost three years prior—the devoted fan who had charmed him once they were both drunk that had returned to his hotel room with him at the false promise of fame. Willow wasn't even sure that Gene remembered telling her, in his intoxicated state, all about the busty woman he had spent the night and better part of the morning with once Willow had refused to sleep with him.

They hadn't had a sexual, or even _remotely_ romantic relationship for almost six years. At first, they had tricked themselves into believing it was because they were _busy_. Busy with the girls or busy with their work. It had quickly become 'oh, can't kiss them because I'm cooking dinner' or 'can't offer to take them to dinner because I had a big lunch.' Any excuse was a good excuse—Willow knew that that wasn't the basis of a healthy relationship and, although he was never abusive, Gene was negligent and that had hurt more than she thought it would.

" _Please_ ," Willow almost begged, drawing the documents out of her bag, "sign these. I think…I think we've known that this marriage has been over for a long time. We don't hug, we don't kiss and we only share a bed to make sure the girls don't know we're having issues."

Gene eyed the documents and the pen. "I'll sign these _but_ we're speaking about it. We're splitting everything, we're staying in the same house until we sort all of this out. _Legally_."

"Of course." Willow looked at Gene sadly over the table, "You're _still_ my husband; you're Saf's father. I'm not going to just cut you out of my life."

The Moore man hummed in agreement, not saying another word, as the pen nib inked the final letter of his signature.

 **XXXXX**

"Hey, dipshit."

Jason didn't turn around. His shoulders slumped in shame and his eyes screwed shut. Maybe if he pretended to be dead, she'd leave—it worked for possums, right? Anything, _anything_ was better than facing Crystalia Zeo's wrath, or _worse_ , her forgiveness.

A warm body plopped down beside him on the cliff overlooking Angel Grove. "Don't ignore me, I've had enough of that shit today."

"…I'm sorry."

He felt her shrug against him and watched as her fingers clasped together in her lap. "We all have shit days sometimes. But, still, don't treat me like that again or I might not have enough self-control to stop myself from drop-kicking you."

Jason barked out a short life. "I don't understand how you're so…calm right now.

"I had a good, long chat with a new friend." Crys narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, "And I had a _really_ good milkshake."

"Seriously?" Jason stared at Crys, who looked actually relaxed for the first time since he had properly met her. The tight braids that the hair on one side of her head were gone, replaced by a waterfall of wavy, blonde hair which glinted in the lights from Angel Grove. Jason was struck by how accurately most people described her at school—an angel in leather. He had never seen her leave the house without a leather something—whether it was a jacket, vest or pants paired with her usual leather boots—but she had this graceful air about her.

"I have the capacity for great evil…and a great love of anything that tastes like chocolate," Crys informed the boy beside her, eyes fixed on the sky. The stars were properly starting to be visible now and from where they were sitting, the Zeo girl had never thought the sky had looked more beautiful.

Jason licked at his lips, "How'd you find me?"

"Uh, Kim told me she'd seen you here a few times." Jason frowned in confusion and Crys rolled her eyes, " _Nosy_. Kimberly Hart comes up here and goes swimming somewhere 'round here. She's seen you 'be emo-Jason Scott.'"

"I'm going to ignore how that was vaguely creepy." The boy stretched out his injured knee unconsciously as he asked, "Wait, _Kimberly Hart_ is the 'new friend?'"

Crys scrunched up her nose, "Doubting my ability to make friends?"

"No!"

"Cool it, Jason. I'm kidding," the Zeo girl flipped her blonde hair and poked at Jason's side, making him squirm away from her. Who knew the almighty Jason Scott was ticklish? "But yeah, I bumped into her after you left me alone in the street. I couldn't just go back to your house, could I? Your dad is more awkward than me."

Jason cringed, "I'm—"

"Do. Not. Apologize," Crys interrupted frostily. "Just…let's just forget that minor spat ever happened, okay? Let's talk about something else."

"What about you," Jason offered. "Tell me about yourself—your childhood, your likes, dislikes. I want to know the real you; the Crys that you only let your family and Billy see. Occasionally. When you're feeling nice."

"You want me to regale you with the tales of Crystalia Zeo?" Crys asked, disbelief coloring her voice. Jason nodded, smiling widely. The girl rolled her eyes, "Okay, I call it the 'pre-pubescent' series, in which I actually don't mind the color pink and when I had a stuffed bunny called Flopsy."

"Seriously?"

"No. I was born as tough-as-nails and hated the world the second I came out of the womb. Now, shut up so I can tell you. This is in all seriousness too; I was born at night during one of the worst blizzards in recorded history—"

"Crys!"

"Okay, okay. You caught me. I was born on a normal day, in a normal week, in a normal month, in a normal year—"

"This is worse than you lying."

"I was born on a Friday which just so happened to be the thirteenth day of the month."

There was a moment of silence. "Go on…"

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **I am loving this story so much.**

 **My babies had a fight! But they're okay now!**

 **Next chapter: Zack Taylor will be introduced and will bond with Saf. Trini does more yoga and contemplates her life. Willow has another fight with Gene (the Douche) and will be asserting her artistic amazingness with a rather aggressive painting. Ky complains about how bored he is and Diane makes a guest appearance. Crys and Billy return to blowing shit up like every other day of the week. And Jason thinks about his growing feelings for Crys.**

 **I swear I was going to make Gene a nice, understanding guy. And then I started typing.**

 **Please review, follow and favorite, it would mean the world to me!**

 **~ Raven**


	6. FIVE

_**FIVE | BLOOD AND DUST...FROM A MINOR C-4-INDUCED EXPLOSION**_

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

* * *

 **THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO** ** _Gwendolyn Yuki,_** ** _SimplyKelly, Leonarda, PurpleMouseRanger,_** ** _Love..Fiction.2017_** **AND** _ **Kia'Vaizel**_ **FOR REVIEWING. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH YOUR REVIEWS MEAN TO ME AND I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU LOVE CRYS, SAF AND WILLOW AS MUCH AS I DO!**

* * *

Zack Taylor had been shocked, to say the least, when he had returned home after school—and some aimless wandering—to find a blonde girl seated at his mother's bedside. Both women were deep asleep and an unfinished game of chess sat over the covers of the bed, occasionally shifting as Zack's mother moved in her sleep.

They both looked peaceful and at ease in each other's presence but that didn't make Zack any less on edge.

The blonde girl jolted awake, almost falling out of her seat as a song screamed from her phone. Quickly, she answered it to ensure that Mrs Taylor didn't wake up and glared at the wall. "Crys! What do you want?"

Apparently, the person on the other end of the line, Crys, hadn't given her enough of a reason to keep talking to her and the blonde hung up with a barely concealed sigh after a few moments and a 'don't call me again, loser!'

"Who the _Hell_ are you?" Zack demanded as soon as the call was ended and the blonde shot up and promptly shushed him.

"Shut up, would you? Your mom is sleeping!"

"I can _see_ that! Who are you?"

"Saphira Moore," the girl introduced herself, shoving Zack out of the room. "Just call me Saf. I'm your mom's nurse, I've been looking after her for a while." She hitched her thumb over her shoulder, "Your mom is getting stronger—I've been making sure that she's eating enough and that she's getting all the medication she needs."

Zack gaped. Who the Hell was this girl!? Saf didn't look older than him and she was already talking to him about his mother's health like she knew what she was going on about. He didn't buy that she was a nurse for a second. "Hey, you listen—"

"No. _You_ listen," Saf snapped, her voice hushed so she didn't wake Mrs Taylor. Zack actually recoiled, shocked into listening to the small girl with the big attitude. "Your mom…she needs you. I don't care if you're busy or you're scared to lose her or because you just don't care about her wellbeing— _I_ don't care what your reason is. But she does and she loves you and she _needs_ you to help her through all this. Which means you need to be _here_ more than I am—I'm just the nurse after all and you're her son."

The Taylor boy set his jaw for a moment. "What…what do you think I should do then? I don't want to come home one day and she's just… _gone_ …"

Saf smiled sadly, gently resting her hand on Zack's shoulder. She felt like she knew him already, from all the stories she had been told by his mother and Saf understood—she understood that Zack was scared to lose his mother and was acting out so he could forget about what was happening at home for just a little bit.

Crys did the same—she became cold and distant so she could control just a _little_ bit of her own emotions.

"I suppose that's your choice. I suppose you need to weigh up the benefits of being here with her, seeing her weak and tired, over the fear of coming home and never seeing her again. But I'm gonna be here though, if you ever need help."

Zack nodded slowly, a tiny smile tugging at his lips. "I'd like that."

 **XXXXX**

Trini blew out a deep breath and balanced rather unsteadily on her right leg.

She was trying, honestly, but the _oneness with nature_ thing was harder than it looked. Especially when she had _no_ core strength and couldn't balance on one leg to save her life—like, honestly, who thought balancing was good idea for the athletically challenged?

But, yeah, Trini was trying.

And it wasn't just to show up her girlfriend, who could balance on one leg like a flipping flamingo, the next time they did yoga together.

Saf was right about one thing though; yoga was helping to clear Trini's mind. No, she wasn't having spiritual, out-of-body experiences but it was clearing her mind and Trini was having a better time concentrating. Yoga on the hillside especially helped after a tough day at school—Trini was invisible to everyone but Crys, who split her lunch breaks sitting with Trini and sitting with Billy and usually sat beside her in the classes they shared. Trini hated being a charity case but Crys had assured her, time and time again, that she sat with her because she thought Trini was cool and talking to her actually helped 'refresh her brain after it was numbed by stupid teen drama and art class.'

Apparently, Crys couldn't 'art for shit'—which was odd, considering the fact that her mother was a highly accomplished artist.

But Trini had bigger things than to think about Crystalia Zeo's inability to do any type of art (or the fact that she was _sure_ Crys was failing the class because she kept mouthing off to the teacher or because the only time she actually painted something, it was an 'artist's rendition' of a moose which looked eerily like Miss Art Teacher).

No, Trini was thinking about telling her parents about her more-than-friends relationship with Saphira Moore and she was desperately trying to gain the courage to finally be true to herself.

 **XXXXX**

"Get out!"

"This is _my_ house!"

" _Half_ of it is your house!"

"The better half!"

"Are you _five_!? Now, get out before I throw a chisel at you!"

There was no chisel in easy reach by Gene didn't need to know that. Apparently, he didn't know that because the only answer Willow got was the front door slamming closed and she threw herself back into her armchair in the living room. It hadn't even been three days since Gene had signed the divorce papers and already, they were at each other's throats.

But they were divorcing after sixteen years of marriage, was it supposed to be amicable?

In Willow's opinion, it was going a lot better than she thought it would be, especially now that she had confirmed Gene's fears that she was _still_ in love with a man whom she shared a daughter with and had said goodbye to eighteen years ago. Eighteen years was a long time to still be hung up over, Willow knew, but Ky had been her first love and probably be her only _true_ love for the rest of her life.

Willow sighed shakily, placing her head in her hands.

She was a _hopeless_ romantic. At times, Willow was actually glad that her eldest was almost painfully cynical when it came to love. Crys didn't even like lovey-dovey fairytales as a child—she had always insisted upon the _Grimm's Fairy Tales_ , preferring the slightly-morbid stories over the ones with fairies. Originally, Willow had been worried about that but as Crys had grown up, she had realized that her daughter simply preferred honest endings over happy ones. Willow had accommodated to her, growing to prefer the Grimm tales too, but then had to go back to the _happily ever after_ with Saf.

The Moore woman didn't mind. She knew that her daughters were entirely two different people—they were both so intelligent though and Willow knew it wouldn't be long before Saf or Crys (most likely Crys, if she was being honest with herself) put two and two together and figured out that something was wrong.

 **XXXXX**

"Okay, we've got enough C-4 to level a building. And only now have I just figured out how much like a terrorist I sound after saying it out loud."

Billy tugged at Crys' jacket sleeve as they ducked down behind the shipping crate. A car had become their test subject, packed with enough of the malleable Composite C-4 to really do some damage, and it was quite possibly they had overdone it.

Oh, who were they kidding? They had _definitely_ overdone it. The car was going to be a _crater_ after they were done with it.

Crys let out a little sigh, "We're doomed." She tilted her head to Billy, "You seriously want to do this?"

"It's the only way to see how much C-4 we need to blow up the rocks."

Crys eyed her best friend for a long moment, watching as he fiddled with the detonator for the bomb. He just wanted to finish his father's work. "Okay. But if we get arrested— _again_ —I'm blaming you."

And Billy's finger slammed down on the button.

 **XXXXX**

Jason was stretched out over his bed, arm thrown over his eyes. He was a mix of emotions but two stood out—he was bitter as Hell and scarily lonely.

His little sister, Pearl, hovered by the door, unsure if she could come in or not and Jason had yet to realize she was there. Pearl had yet to meet Crys but Jason knew they'd adore each other—which was probably why Crys hadn't met Pearl or their mother, Beverly. Jason was a little selfish by nature and wasn't ready to 'share' Crys just yet.

"Jason…?" Pearl questioned carefully.

Lately, Jason had been blowing up—anger and bitterness towards his father had sent him lashing out at everyone. But Beverly had noticed that her son had been calmer more often when he came back from visiting a friend and advised Pearl to not mention the accident when he hadn't.

Jason moved his arm, tilting his head so he could see Pearl. "Oh, hey, kiddo. Want to come in?"

Pearl quickly nodded, bouncing her way into the room. She jumped onto the bed, almost knocking Jason's still-tender knee and she grinned widely. She'd missed her brother—he wasn't home very often, before the accident it was football and now it was someone named 'Crys' taking up all his time.

Gently, Pearl tucked herself into Jason's side, watching as he pulled out his phone. Her eyes brightened as she took in the background—a picture of him with his arms wrapped around a blonde girl in a leather jacket—and Pearl grinned widely.

" _Who's that_? Is that your girlfriend?" She was up in a second, ignoring Jason's yell to shut up and sit down. Pearl flew from the room, laughing as she heard a small crash and a curse from behind her. "Mom! Jason has a _girlfriend_!"

"I do not!" Jason argued, hobbling his way after his little sister. But even as he argued, Jason couldn't help but think about how he felt about Crys and that he would prefer not to label them as 'just friends.'

 **XXXXX**

When Crystalia Zeo and William Cranston casually walked through the hospital, Crys was sure that they had almost given countless people premature heart attacks and she could've sworn someone asked for their nurse to call an exorcist.

But that was probably because they were both covered in ash and blood.

Diane almost keeled over when she glimpsed Crys and Billy walking towards her. She'd only met Billy twice (see: the case of the exploding filing cabinet, followed by: the case of the failed driving test) but she had seen the boy as the responsible, dependable one.

"Billy blew some shit up and I stood behind him and supported his entirely crazy and highly dangerous endeavor," Crys explained briefly, seeing Diane's searching look, and she winced as her fingers brushed the wound at her temple. She showed the small amount of blood staining her fingers to the nurse, "Willing to stitch us up?"

Apparently, Diane had been wrong about Billy being the brighter, less dangerous one—no, they were _equal_ parts hazardous—and without extra question, she gestured for Billy to sit on the closest hospital bed. She tended to the long scratch stretching across his cheekbone and continued to interrogate the pair. "What did you do!?"

"Blew up a car—"

"—with C-4—"

"—while we were hiding behind a storage box—"

"—at the docks," Crys finished easily. She had thrown herself into the armchair by the bed and got up as Billy hopped off the bed. Diane dapped at the cut at her temple with antiseptic and Crys flinched away. "And _no_. No one else got hurt."

"Then why did you?"

Billy shrugged, uncomfortable with all the questions. "There was a dog…"

Diane hid her sigh of disappointment and taped some gauze over the wound now sealed together with some small stitches which would eventually absorb into Crys' skin. "Of course, there was. Now, you two, try and get out of this hospital without taking the fire extinguisher."

Crys smiled widely, "Thanks, Di." She turned to Billy, "Hey, why don't you go on home? I think I'll visit dad and probably stop at Jason's."

The Cranston boy nodded wordlessly. He knew that Crys preferred to be alone when it came to visiting her father and if she needed something, she would either be with Jason or she would call Billy after her visit.

Crys waited, watching Billy leave the hospital (after bumping into a few people on his way) and hurried past Diane, who was already flitting around another patient. The patient, a little girl, smiled up at Crys and with her unbroken arm, waved. Crys winked in response and waved back as she headed for the cancer ward. The Zeo girl had been having phone calls with Ky every other day but nothing compared to being able to see him in person—except for, you know, seeing him _outside_ of his dreary hospital room.

But for now, Crys had to settle for visiting her beloved father whenever possible.

"Hey, dad," Crys greeted quietly, hoping that she wouldn't wake him up. Ky was already sitting upright, lips pursed as he flicked through the television channels. Apparently, nothing good was _ever_ on TV and the Zeo man looked around ready to throw the remote at the screen.

"Gem!" Ky beamed and beckoned her over. Crys took the short time to analyze her father—he looked healthier, there was more color in his cheeks and someone, Crys guessed it was Diane, had given his long hair a trim. "Hey! I saw that!"

Crys smiled innocently, "Saw what, dad?" She flipped her hair and tossed herself onto the bed beside her father, continuing to shoot Ky an innocent look. "I haven't the slightest clue as to what you are speaking about."

Ky wiggled his forefinger at the girl, " _Ooh_ , I saw it. I may be crazy but I'm not _crazy_."

"That doesn't even make sense."

" _You_ don't make sense."

"Are you five?"

The Zeo man tossed his head back, his skull making a dull _thunk_ when it hit the wall behind him. Ky cursed quietly before he continued arguing with his daughter. "No, I am not five but you've been spending too much time with your mother."

Crys rolled her eyes, knowing she was using her mother's 'catchphrase' when it came to sarcastically asking the age question, and merely shrugged. "I suppose. How are you going, dad? Losing your mind yet?"

"Nope," Ky smiled, clicking his tongue. "Diane's been bringing me crossword puzzles—" Ky ignored the way Crys snorted into her hand and made a comment about old age catching up to him "—and she's told me I could be released soon. Now, shouldn't I ask how _you're_ going? Don't think I didn't see that bandage, missy."

The blonde girl wrinkled her nose. "Billy and I had a minor issue with a bomb." Seeing her father's stern look, Crys quickly added, "But no one got hurt! We made sure no one was near the docks and that the car that we blew up was scheduled to be destroyed in the scrap yard, anyway."

Ky narrowed his eyes on his far-too-intelligent-for-her-own-good daughter. "And pray tell, Crystalia—" _oh shit, she was in trouble, he was using his dad voice_ "—how did you manage to get the car to the docks? That's a far distance to _push_ a vehicle…"

Crys winced. Now, she was in _deep_ shit. The Zeo girl didn't have a license and couldn't very well admit to her law-abiding father that she had driven the car, unlicensed and quite recklessly, to the docks for explosion.

"Oh my god, would you look at the time—"

" _Crys_!"

"—and I was going to head to Jason's. Bye, dad, love you!"

Ky sighed, shaking his head as he watched his daughter hightail it from the hospital room and disappear around the corner. Vaguely, he heard Crys thank someone for stitching her head up before Diane walked into the room.

"Should I even ask what just happened?" Diane questioned as she looked over Ky's IV. "Wait, let me rephrase—do I even want to know?"

Ky sighed deeply again, " _Nope_."

 **XXXXX**

Kimberly repressed an angry scream, throwing herself face-first onto her bed.

Her best friend, Amanda, _knew_ that Kim liked Ty. Ty was one of the most popular guys in the school and, excluding Jason, was one of the hottest. Kim had been fantasizing about catching his attention for months and now, he had his eyes on her _best friend_.

God! How stupid was the male species? Kim had been dropping hints for months and then, when she _finally_ caught his eye, it was only so he could get close to Amanda and learn what she liked in a guy from her—from the girl who had liked him for ages. And Amanda had said yes to a date, despite knowing how Kim felt, and then—to make _everything_ worse—Kim had been sent a photo of Amanda.

Amanda was half-naked, trying to be sexy in the photo and was asking for her opinion—did Kim think Ty would like it; did Kim think Amanda looked hot enough to sext Ty? Amanda had always been a superficial girl, desperate for approval from others over her looks and it was easy for Kim to poke holes through her ego.

The classic, vicious nature of a high school 'it' girl, who had been jilted for her best friend, had ignited with Kim.

Before she knew it, Kimberly Hart _hated_ her best friend with a passion and she was doing everything she could to sabotage her best friend's relationship. How easy would it be to send the photo to Ty and destroy Amanda's chances of them being together? Her finger hovered over the _send_ button and, with a vindictive smile, her thumb tapped the screen.

And just like that, a picture of a scantily-clad Amanda was sent to Ty—captioned with _'Is this the girl you want to bring home to mom_?'

 **XXXXX**

Crys was _still_ covered in dust and there was still a smear of blood along the column of her throat and there was a smudge along the collar of her gray t-shirt when she slid through the open window to Jason's room. She didn't think for a second that she should make herself properly presentable and figured she could just raid Jason's closet.

Besides, even if the window hadn't been unlocked, she could have broken in easily, especially because she had her lock-picking kit in the back pocket of her dust-smeared jeans.

The Scott boy was stretched over his bed, shirtless and headphones pressed securely over his ears. He only realized he wasn't alone when Crys casually threw her leather jacket into his face and he shot up, immediately taking off his headphones and began to search for his formerly discarded shirt.

"You know, just because it's Angel Grove, it doesn't mean the town crime free, yeah? You should lock your window to keep the criminals out."

" _You_ are the _only_ criminal in Angel Grove," Jason grumbled and bit back a yelp as he almost fell off his bed. "If someone was to take a survey, you'd be the only person to have been put in jail for more than five days."

"I'm glad you didn't say _three_ ," Crys mused, rifling through Jason's wardrobe. "Because then, you would've been applicable for that title."

Jason growled deep in his throat, "Yeah, because my dad thought it was okay to leave me in a jail cell for three nights." He continued to grumble under his breath about his father as he hunted around for his shirt, "Where the Hell is my shirt?"

"Oh, lord. I don't get how you even find anything in here with all your crap all over the floor," Crys rolled her eyes and picked up a shirt on the ground, dangling it in Jason's face. "You don't need to cover up, Jason. It's just me."

Jason blushed hotly and hurriedly pulled his shirt over his head. Once the fabric was covering his torso, he continued, "It's _because_ it's you, Crys. What the Hell are you doing here and why are you covered in dust and—is that _blood_!?"

" _Oh_ , are you worried about me, Jason?" Crys stretched her arms above her head and yawned before turning back to the closet. Finding something to her liking, Crys shamelessly stripped off her gray shirt, making Jason avert his eyes quickly with bright red cheeks, and swapped it for one of Jason's. "I'm fine, don't stress. Just a minor explosion I happened to be close to…and orchestrating."

"Billy help?" Jason asked, clearing his throat awkwardly as Crys sat down at the foot of his bed.

Honestly, the Zeo girl was not a timid girl by nature and she was proud of her body. Jason knew that but it didn't stop his eyes drifting over her form as he thought about Crys' creamy skin, flat stomach and small constellation of beauty marks along her spine. He was having an even harder time to ignore his growing feelings for Crys now as she finished buttoning up his favorite flannel shirt over her bra.

Jason snapped himself out of his daze as Crys threaded her fingers through her locks and tied it up in a ponytail. "Well, yeah. How else am I going to blow something up without my best friend by my side?"

The Scott boy rolled his eyes, flopping back down on the bed. "You could try not blowing things up."

"How _dreadfully_ boring," Crys grumbled and crawled up the bed until she flopped down beside Jason. She busied herself with folding up the sleeves of Jason's shirt as they stared at the ceiling. "I don't get it. How did you survive before you met me, your life is so _bland_. All you did was football."

Jason chose not to mention how his father had changed his mind about football after they had visited the doctor. Originally, Sam had been strongly against Jason starting to train again but after the consultation with the doctor, he had pushed his son to take up the exercises to get back into prime footballing health. He seemed to think that if he pushed Jason enough, he would finally want to redeem himself and play football again. Maybe he could get a scholarship and become something bit. But Jason didn't want that anymore—his life had revolved around training, playing and attempting to impress scouts but now, because he couldn't play anymore, Jason was beginning to realise how little he was actually doing that _he_ loved.

"Hey…" Crys murmured quietly. Jason turned his head, ignoring the way his neck cricked, and saw that the blonde girl's eyes were already locked on him with a tenderness he'd only seen a few times. It sent heat to chest as Crys reached out to brush the back of her fingers across Jason's. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing—"

" _Don't_ lie to me," Crys muttered warningly, her voice still just as soft. The threat wasn't forceful at all though and it sounded more like a plea than anything else. "Please, Jason. It's _me_. You don't need to lie to me, about anything."

The Scott boy bit his lip and his eyes softened from the hard flints of blue that they had been formerly. "Nothing, I promise."

Crys seemed to get the hint that Jason didn't want to talk to her about it and she nodded slowly. Quickly, to stop Jason from withdrawing from her, she changed the subject. "So…when am I gonna get to meet your mom and sister?"

Jason wrinkled his nose, "Never?"

"Okay, if that's what you want," Crys replied. She was understanding, unjudging of her friend's choice for her to never meet his family. She figured that _never_ was a push but, after all, Jason had yet to meet her family. And it wasn't like they were dating. "Your dad seemed to like me, though."

Jason snorted this time and shook his head, "You're in my dad's bad books. He thinks we're together and that you're forcing me not to start training for football again."

Crys frowned, "I thought your dad was telling you not to play. Isn't that what we had our first fight about?" Jason shrugged and the blonde girl scoffed, "That's bullshit. Your dad can't force you to do anything!"

The Scott boy shushed Crys, whose voice was rising in volume, and smiled softly in reassurance, "He _won't_. I have a knee brace but that doesn't mean I can't stand up for myself, Crys. My dad won't be able to force me to do anything I don't want to do, even if he wants me to start playing football again. Besides, I know my limits and my knee won't be able to take it."

Nodding slowly, Crys turned her attention to Jason's knee. "How is it? Will you be coming to school soon?"

"Miss me already?"

"Oh, yes, you brighten my day, Scott."

" _Aw_ , you do have a soul, Zeo."

"Shut up."

Jason grinned, chalking down Crys' response as a win for him, despite the fact that every word she had said was sarcastic. It wasn't often that Jason won against Crys in their verbal battles and he cherished every partial win he got.

"Yeah, probably next week." The Scott boy glared down at his knee for a second as it began to ache and grumbled, "My first day back will be for Saturday detention."

"Hey, it's not that bad," Crys claimed brightly. She tilted her head and smiled widely at the boy next to her, "Fredrickson is half-blind. He makes sure we're all there—if we're not, he doesn't care—and then we do 'work' until twelve. 'Course, 'work' just means that we sit there for a few hours and pretend to give a shit."

There was a pause before Jason finally commented, "That actually doesn't sound too bad."

"I haven't even told you the best part yet." Jason waited patiently and watched as a sunny smile lit up Crys' face. The apples of her cheeks dimpled and her eyes seemed to glow with an inner light Jason had never noticed before. " _I'm_ going to be there."

"You're right," Jason admitted. "That is the best part."

 **XXXXX**

Willow stepped back with a self-satisfied smile. Her brush dripped paint idly onto the ground from where it was nestled in her hand by her elbow but Willow was too busy relishing in her pride to realize.

Dropping the brush into the cup of water by the easel, Willow took a step back and admired the artwork from afar. Never before, in her eyes, did she think she had produced such an emotion-driven piece.

The piece was an artistic mess. Slashes of red and black mingled together on the large canvas and, if a critique looked closely, they would see the da Vinci inspired work beneath the red and black—the image of a woman wrapped in chains and locked in what could only be described as the pits of Hell.

Willow, if asked, wouldn't pretend. She would say, straight out, that it was a visual representation of how she felt as she was locked into a marriage with a man who was only a fleeting love and a man who did not provide her with the passion that she needed as an artist. Truthfully, Willow had only been able to pursue her dream of being an artist because she had remembered all the times she had shared with Ky.

Those wild times that they had spent breaking into buildings, trespassing on private property to swim in creeks, butt-naked, and making promises they knew they would never keep on the roof of the school gym. _Those_ had been the years, the years she cherished and would never forget. But she and Ky had been wild youths, which was probably why Willow never was angry when it came to Crys breaking the law and why she had always felt so secure with Gene and her life.

Life hadn't been secure though, it had been boring. Maybe that had been what the problem was. Maybe Willow and Eugene were just too different, maybe they had never _really_ clicked.

And now, Willow was taking what felt like her first breath after being trapped underwater for too long.

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **UNEDITED**

 **Okay, so I just finished my exams (I'm only in Year 10 so they weren't a big deal but I was still freaking out anyway) so I'm now on an updating crusade and I hope to also update _Pacific, Hamartia_ and _Volatile_ today. Fingers crossed because I'm sure that I won't update at least one of them.**

 **Hopefully you like this chapter, I'm pretty proud that it's a bit longer and I love writing this story.**

 **Please review!**

 **~ Raven**


	7. SIX

_**SIX | THE OBVIOUSLY BEST CRIMINAL STUDENT IN ANGEL GROVE**_

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

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 **THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO** _ **NicoleR85, SimplyKelly, Papercrane26, Nirvana14, Love**.. **Fiction.2017**_ **AND** _ **Kia'Vaizel**_ **FOR REVIEWING. SORRY FOR BEING MIA FOR SO LONG, ENJOY THE CHAPTER!**

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School was disgusting and Fridays were a God-send.

Which was obvious but Crys felt better making a comment about it.

But it was only so good when immediately after 'the end of the week' was Saturday detention—Crys still had a shit ton of detentions to go to because she couldn't seem to lower the times she got into trouble. It was clear, as well, that the teachers had given up giving her Saturday detentions—she had them until the end of the year—and instead, they gave her menial tasks to complete after school that the teachers couldn't be stuffed cleaning themselves. Which, in Crys' opinion, was child-labor.

Crys didn't even realize that there were still _chalkboards_ in the school, let alone dusters that were so caked with chalk that they created a mini snowstorm when they were knocked together.

Something was off with the students too.

There was this awkward shadow hanging over the school and there were a lot of whispers within groups of friends. Crys frowned heavily, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder as she heard a group of girls giggling behind their hands as the Plastics 2.0, the unofficial nickname for the trio of cheerleaders led by Kimberly Hart, walked past them. Crys didn't have as much of an issue with Kim anymore, after talking to her, and she waved in greeting.

Kim went to wave back before she changed her mind and quickly looked away. The problem with the Plastics 2.0 was that no one was worse than the other, there was no clear 'Regina George' of the group. They all fed off each other like a parasitic trio of teenagers, all equal measures of bitchiness hidden underneath self-involvement and like, fifty layers of makeup and attitude. But Kim was ashamed—ashamed of what she had sent Ty in a fit of jealousy and acknowledging such a nice person, like Crys (who just _acted_ like she wasn't nice), made her feel even worse.

Crys raised a brow, annoyance flowing off her as she stopped beside Billy, who had his shoulders almost in his locker. She figured that it was because Colt Wallace was patrolling the halls like an overgrown gremlin. Colt met her eyes, pushing his shoulders out further like some effed-up Alpha male and he continued to swagger, moving closer to her. The Zeo girl raised a brow at his attitude before she snapped her teeth at the boy. She watched with a large smirk as his eyes widened and he scuttled off, pushing students out of the way to get as far away from Crys as possible.

"Hey, Billy," the blonde girl greeted. "How's the cut healing?"

"Okay," Billy assured his friend, pulling himself out of his locker. "And yours?"

Crys tilted her head, letting the light catch the small dissolvable stitches beginning to melt into her skin. The cut was healing nicely and Crys hadn't had to return to the hospital—if she had, Diane would probably have her hide for not cleaning it properly and avoiding infection like she had been instructed to.

"Pretty good." The blonde carefully looped her arm with Billy's, enabling him enough room to move his arm away if he wasn't comfortable and they began walking out of the school, "What are you doing this afternoon, Billy?"

"Not much," Billy admitted. "I'm figuring out the last little things for the wall."

Crys pursed her lips, "Find a driver yet?"

Billy shook his head and looped his fingers around the straps of his backpack. He knew that the only way he and Crys could get to the mine was if they had proper transport, someone who could drive them and all their equipment—and, as Crys kept reminding him, was willing to break a _minor_ trespassing law. Not many would be willing to do that for them and Crys knew there would more issue with finding someone to be their getaway driver than actually blowing up the entrance to a mine.

"Do you think we will?"

Billy shrugged again. "I doubt it. Unless you plan on driving."

Crys let out a small hiss as she kicked open the front door of the school that a student had dropped after they had exited, "Yo, watch it, asshole!" She turned to Billy with furrowed brows, "No, B. I can get _arrested_ for that and I don't want to put my mom through that shit again. Especially not now."

"What's different about _now_?"

"I think…" The Zeo girl lowered her voice, forcing Billy to lean closer to hear her quiet words, "I think mom is divorcing Gene. They've been getting mail from different lawyers and trying to hide it from me and Saf."

"That doesn't mean—"

"I googled them, they're divorce lawyers."

Billy nodded slowly, unsure of what to say next. He knew his best friend was highly intelligent and was more than capable of figuring out what was wrong with a person. And if Crys said that Willow and Gene Moore were having issues, she was probably right. But he also knew Willow and how the eldest blonde would react if she found out she wasn't as secretive about things as she thought she was. The Moore woman would probably get hurt—like Willow had become before about an entirely different issue—and it would result in Crys hiding out at the Cranston household and avoiding taking calls.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Crys shrugged, catching her bag before it slid off her shoulder at the movement, "I don't know. I'll probably wait until mom tells me herself…or until I get impatient and just blurt out the question at one of our incredibly-increasingly-awkward family dinners. Then mom will be reassuring us, Gene will be yelling, Saf will be crying and I'll suddenly find myself sleeping on a blow-up mattress next to your bed."

Mrs Cranston beeped from the parking lot and Billy looked towards the car and then looked at Crys. Crys waved off her best friend's slightly worried look and smiled widely.

"I'll be okay. Thanks for listening, Billy." Crys headed off before spinning around to call back, "Say hi to your mom for me!"

Billy nodded in agreement before he headed over to his mother's car. He slid into the passenger seat. "Crys says hi."

"She's such a sweet girl," Mrs Cranston smiled and tapped at the small shell hanging from the rearview mirror with her key—a ritual Billy was adamant that they had to continue—before sliding the key into the ignition. She began to back out of the parking lot, instructing her son, "Invite her to dinner soon. I miss having Crys around."

"I'm sure she misses your food," Billy assured his mother and spoke, like he usually did, without thinking, "Willow's cooking hasn't gotten any better."

 **XXXXX**

Trini tapped her fingers along the handle of the mug in front of her. Hot chocolate had never been her poison, she always preferred coffee, but she wasn't about to turn down one of Willow's Famous Hot Chocolates— the artist always added chocolate syrup along the bottom of the mug and made her own chocolate whipped cream to put on top.

The only problem was that it was _famous_ because it was the only thing that Willow could cook without burning or making it so inedible that it gave you food poisoning.

Trini adored Willow's childish tendencies and knew that she had a major sweet-tooth. Willow had an issue with turning down any type of sugary food and Trini had made a home in the Zeo-Moore household by letting Willow eat her share of the dessert whenever she came over for dinner.

"What's up, Trini?" Willow asked quietly. She was standing across the kitchen counter, idly mixing her hot chocolate with a chocolate wafer stick which was getting considerably too small because she kept snacking on it. The blonde woman was a quirky one, like her daughters and it made Trini feel safe, safe enough to tell Willow about her feelings.

"I want to tell my parents about me and Saf dating."

"You're dating!?" Willow cursed, chomping away on the last bite of her wafer stick. Trini waited for her to start yelling angrily or something else completely irrational—how she thought her parents or Gene would react when told—but Willow only started grumbling under her breath and took an exaggerated sip of her hot chocolate. "Shit! I owe Crys sixty bucks. That'll teach me to bet against a genius…"

Trini raised her brows, "You bet on my love life?"

" _No_ ," the Moore woman retorted, sounding vaguely insulted. "We bet on whether you and Saf were together and then we bet on who would come clean about it first. Hence, the sixty bucks."

The dark-haired girl laughed before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "We've been together for a while but we haven't said anything. I just…my parents, they won't understand that I'm bi—that I like both girls and guys and that I'm _dating_ a girl. They won't _accept_ me for who I am. It's not like I chose this!"

Willow stretched out her hand, taking Trini's. Her sad eyes met Trini's and she spoke sternly, her voice filled with a motherly love, " _Please_ don't think like that. Saf was worried about the same thing when she discovered herself—she thought she was a freak and as much as I told her otherwise, her father's influence made her think that. But Trini, you are _not_ a freak or a mistake and your parents are going to have to understand."

"But what if they—"

The green-eyed woman tightened her hold on Trini's hand, " _If_ they don't, then screw 'em. You're always going to be welcome here, whether you're still with Saf or not at the time. Our home if your home, as long as you want it to be. Because you're family, Trini Kwan, and we love you."

Trini's eyes filled with tears and she sent the blonde woman a watery smile, "I'm glad to call you family, Willow Moore."

"It's _Monet_ ," Willow corrected, pride clear in her voice when she said her maiden name aloud for the first time in sixteen years. She was _free_ now, she was herself again and the use of her old name just made her believe that even more. "My name is _Willow Monet_."

 **XXXXX**

The urgent text that Crys had received from Kim was odd and immediately sent the girl on high alert. That was probably why Crys almost ran to the diner they decided to meet at and it was _obviously_ her worry that got her there quickly, not because she had figured that, given that she was there, that she might as well buy something that wasn't _poisoned_ to eat.

Kim jumped up from the booth by the window, near the back of the diner. "Crys! I didn't think you'd make it—"

"After you ignored me in the hall today?" Crys interrupted with a fake smile. She dumped her bag into the booth and slid onto the seat, "Kim, this isn't an episode of some crappy little sitcom. I'm not going to swear revenge against the Plastics just because you've ignored me in the past—I'm not _that_ trivial."

Don't get her wrong, she _was_ trivial—just not to that extent.

"The Plastics?"

Crys nodded, quirking her brows, "Yep. Don't you know that's what they call you at school? Plastics 2.0? You and _Gretchen_ rule the school and your other cheerleader friend follows you around like dumb little puppy."

"Gretchen?"

"You've never seen _Mean Girls_? Jeez, the movie sounds right up your alley," Crys scoffed. "No, I think you call who I call _Gretchen_ , Amanda." Kim winced at that and the blonde raised a brow, "You winced. Why? What have you done, Kim, which makes you so anxious to talk to me of all people?"

Kim laced her fingers together on the table and she stared at them. "I texted you because I know you're going to be _brutally_ honest." She licked her lips before meeting Crys' sharp blue eyes, "I did something. My friend, Amanda, was asked out by the guy I like and…"

"Ty? The one you're into?" Kim shot Crys a questioning look and the Zeo girl waved it away with a smirk, "Oh, please. You think you're being _discrete_ when you giggle obnoxiously and twirl your hair around your finger? Um, _no_ , Kim."

Kim waved off the comment before her fake nails resumed tapping on the table. "I sent him a picture of Amanda that she sent to me in confidence and Ty's sent it to nearly everyone in the school."

The smirk fell, replaced with a look of horror. "Oh my God, Kim! What the Hell? How could you do something so shitty to your friend!?" Crys' angry eyes almost glared a hole into Kim's face. "That's _revenge porn_ , Kimberly. I just…I don't get how you could be such a jealous bitch!"

Kim scowled, "Don't you think I _know_ that!?"

"Do you?" Crys snapped back. "Do you know the legalities of what you've just done? Amanda is seventeen, isn't she? That's the distribution of _child pornography_ , Kim, and that's a serious offense. You can go to _prison_ and put on the sexual offenders register."

The Hart girl's eyes widened. Surely, Crys was just being dramatic and making up shit to scare her. But it niggled in the back of her mind that Crys was brutally honest for a reason—she nearly never lied. "That's not going to happen!"

"You're right. It won't…if Amanda and her family don't press charges." Crys grabbed her bag, disappointment clear on her face and Kim was hurt by the look of disgust on her blonde friend's face. "I hope to Hell that you either come clean or you've got no conscience and are able to lie to a parent and say that you haven't screwed up their daughter's life."

"Come on, Crys—"

" _No_ , Kim," Crys snarled, shaking off the hand around her wrist. "What did you call me here for? You wanted me to lie for you, to make up some shit about not knowing—make me your alibi for this shit-storm? What, Kim? You've dragged me into this and if you don't come clean…I will."

Kim clenched her teeth, "Is that a threat?"

"No, it's a promise." With that, Crys escaped the diner and Kim's betrayed look.

Kim had done this to herself, she had managed to screw herself and her friend over because of her inane jealousy of a high school guy's affection for her best friend. Crys was wiping her hands clean of Kim, she'd really messed up this time and Kim knew she wasn't going to be back in Crys' good graces anytime soon.

And really, if she was being honest with herself, Kim really didn't blame Crys for her reaction either.

But that didn't mean that the Hart girl wasn't going to do everything in her power to avoid getting in trouble for spreading a photo of her friend, half-naked and flirty, to the entire population of Angel Grove High. Besides, Kimberly Hart was a pretty good liar and didn't need to be friends with the bad girl of Angel Grove to get what she wanted.

 **XXXXX**

"Hey, parental unit," Crys greeted as she entered the Zeo-Moore residence. She half-collapsed onto the stool beside her mother, who was nursing an incredibly full glass of red wine. The Zeo girl eyed the small smudge of red along the sleeve of Willow's shirt but didn't say a word. "You good?"

Willow raised a brow at the greeting, "Hello, offspring. Yeah, I just finished a long girl talk with Trini—she's staying the night." Crys pursed her lips at her mother and Willow back-tracked quickly, noticing how her eldest was acting. "Oh, shit. You're making the _I-have-a-problem_ face. What's up, Crystal?"

Crys tried not to roll her eyes at the nickname from her mother—she'd stopped answering to it when she turned ten and liked motorcycles more than jewelry. That was about the year she asked for a bike too.

"My friend has done something _completely_ freaking shit," Crys griped. "And…I just wiped my hands clean of helping her."

"Did she deserve it?"

"Yes…? I mean, I kind of abandoned her but she deserved it after what she did to her so-called friend. I…I can't be friends with someone who is so willing to throw their friend under the bus! They had been friends since kindergarten, they've been the Queen Bees of the school for years and my friend betrayed her over a _guy_." Crys scoffed, disgust pulling at her features, "It makes me sick to my stomach. That a guy who didn't even like her made her so jealous that she betrayed someone she's been friends with for years."

Willow leant forward on her elbows, "What exactly did she do?"

"Two words. _Revenge_. _Porn_."

The artist gasped, moving back from the bench. She had known someone who had ended her life because of the image her ex-boyfriend had shared around the school and she had instilled that same hatred into her daughter. "Oh, my God…Is she going to tell the principal what she did? Or at least her friend?"

"No, I don't think so," Crys admitted. She glanced away from her mother, "I threatened to tell them myself."

Willow didn't know what to say so she simply reached out to take her daughter's hand, "You do what _you_ think is right."

 **XXXXX**

"So, your girlfriend is the crazy girl who does yoga on that hill?"

Saf reclined back on the roof of the train cart with a _thunk_. Zack had brought his new—only—friend to his favorite place in Angel Grove and, in return, Saf had almost entirely spilt her guts about how challenging her new position at the hospital was and about how Trini seemed to be drifting away from her.

"That's all you got from that?" Saf demanded. She had gone on and on, talking Zack's ear off, but he had focused simply on uncovering the mystery of the yoga-practicing girl he affectionately called _Crazy Girl_. "Honestly, Zachary, why do I speak to you?"

"Beats me, Saphira."

" _Anyway_ ," Saf huffed, "I'm scared I'm going to lose her."

Zack frowned, curling his lip at the blonde beside him. "Then what the Hell are you telling _me_ this for? Go and say it to your Crazy Girl."

"Not that simple," Saf argued. "God, you sound like my _sister_ —she gives me the same advice and, surprise, surprise, you're _both_ single! What if she tells me I'm being stupid and breaks up with me?"

"Then it's her loss."

"You're too sweet."

"Don't get used to it."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

There was a long silence, the pair both lying on the top of the train cart, staring at the sky. It was beginning to get dark, there was a dark ring near the horizon and the sun wasn't blinding them the second they glanced up anymore. Trini would be at home already, Saf thought lazily, her brothers would probably be bugging her too.

Trini was always on her mind and, although she had yet to say it out loud, Saf had the sneaking suspicion that she was _in love_ with beautiful, social-reject, quietly-intelligent Trini Kwan.

That realization sent a bolt of terror through Saf's body and a wave of denial through her brain—was she too young, what was love even, would it even work between them, would they forever hide what they had, what if she didn't feel the same—?

"Stop thinking so loud," Zack grumbled after a second, arm thrown over his eyes and he didn't even glance at Saf as she froze.

The Taylor boy was a carefree one on the surface but the problem was that he was always worrying inside—he never had a moment's peace unless he was far away from everything. That was why he had been, at first, tentative to become friends with Saphira Moore—she was just a reminder of what was going on at home.

"Sorry," Saf murmured quietly. A small chime made her glance at her phone, lip pulled between her teeth. _Trini's staying over, get your ass home, sis._ "I have to go—" Another chime made Saf look at her phone again and curse quietly.

 _Mom knows, Trini told her. I'm sixty bucks richer._

Zack waved his hand, "Yeah, yeah. Get home safe, Saf."

"You too," Saf instructed before she half-slid off the top of the train and landed with an _oof_. "Make sure you get home before the sun rises, your mom will be worried about you."

When she got nothing in return but another dismissive wave, Saf sighed and started on her way back home. She couldn't force Zack to do anything but she _knew_ that if something happened to his mother while he was out, he would hate himself for life, no matter how scared he was to go home and find her dead.

 **XXXXX**

"Everyone, out! This is _not_ a drill!"

The entire detention class ran for it, making it outside into the hall as Fredrickson and Mrs I-Don't-Want-To-Be-Here managed to put out the flames that licked the walls with a vengeance. Mr Fredrickson turned his beady little eyes on Crys and she could see they were glinting with malice—a hatred that Crys had never seen from a teacher before. Sure, they didn't necessarily like her but God, they didn't _hate_ her.

" _Crystalia Zeo_!"

Okay, so maybe Crys was a _little_ bit of a pyromaniac—that was a widely known fact in Angel Grove, especially after eleven-year-old Crys found herself in a cell for the first time after setting fire to a pile of Satan-Next-Door-Neighbor's laundry. In her defense, he was a horrible old man and had used his hedge clippers to cut her beloved teddy bear _and_ her homework for the week into pieces, which was, of course, after she managed to _accidently dissolve_ all of his prize-winning tulips with some concentrated sulfuric acid. It wasn't her fault that she liked science and occasionally set things on fire but she would _never_ intentionally hurt someone. And that meant that she would _never_ , _ever_ set fire to a large stack of cardboard boxes that were almost blocking the only exit in the basement detention room.

"You think _I_ did this!?" Crys snarled and Billy snatched at her arm to stop her from lunging at the man. The feisty blonde was only five-five but she swore that she saw her teacher stepped _back_. "How dare you! You think I'm so fucked up that I'm going to try and _murder_ everyone in detention!?"

Crys desperately wished Jason was there but sadly, he wouldn't be there until next week. And even then, she knew that he could only do so much to calm her down. Besides, Billy was doing a good enough job because she could feel her chest heaving and her face burning but she wasn't ripping into Fredrickson's cheeks with her sharp nails with the chipping black polish or slamming her fist into his nose with the stacked rings that were on nearly every one of her fingers.

"Then who did, Miss Zeo?"

The blue-eyed girl's eyes were sharp and flinty ice shards and she shrugged, "Fuck if I know. But I _do_ know that it _wasn't_ me!"

Crys snatched her arm away from Billy and stalked away, bag thrown over her shoulder. If they wanted to further _interrogate_ her, they would have to chase after her and, after seeing Fredrickson run the three feet distance from the office to pull Colt of Billy once, she doubted that would happen anytime soon. She ignored their yelling for her and she broke into a sprint, ignoring the wetness that clung to her eyelashes.

Jason's window was open again when she arrived at it and in her haste, almost tumbled to the ground. The Scott boy was in his bathroom when he heard a dull _thunk_ from within his room and he wandered back in, a toothbrush still in his mouth and a towel tossed over his head.

Crys was spread out over his bed, lightly sniffling and Jason immediately rushed out and returned a second later, toothbrush and toothpaste free. "Crys…Crys, what's up?"

" _Nothing_." The blonde's voice was muffled by Jason's pillow, "I saw a spider when I climbed through your window."

Jason knew that Crys was _deathly_ afraid of spiders but seeing one wouldn't have reduced her to tears—no, she would've been screaming her lungs out and probably run as far away from it as she could. He knew Crys well enough to know something was wrong but he knew not to push her if she refused to talk about it. She would tell him eventually, when she wasn't so emotionally vulnerable. Instead, Jason wordlessly offered Crys a clean shirt of his, turning around to allow her to change in private. After the shirt was on, swamping her lithe form, and her clothes were folded in a neat pile on the end of his bed, Jason shucked his own shirt off. Jason wasn't particularly tired, it wasn't even that late, but Crys needed to rest, so he pushed down the sheets. He helped the blonde girl slide under the covers, still sniffling and staring blankly at the wall.

"Come here," Jason offered, opening his arms, and Crys curled into him immediately.

He could feel Crys' teary lashes flutter across his chest for a few minutes before the Zeo girl was falling asleep, her breathing deepening and her body curling closer before Jason found himself drifting into sleep.

 **XXXXX**

Beverly Scott knew that Jason was a growing boy but honestly, falling asleep in the middle of the day was ridiculous and wouldn't help his future sleeping patterns when he started to go to school again. Especially if he was skipping dinner—and a dinner his father wouldn't even be present for.

"Jason," Beverly called, knocking the backs of her fingers against the door. She frowned when she didn't get an answer, her hand drifted to the doorknob and she pushed the door open, "Jason? Jason, you're going to miss—"

The woman froze, noting her shirtless son cradling a young blonde girl to his chest, who was wearing a shirt that Beverly remembered giving her son for Christmas. His body was curled around hers, like he was protecting her, and Beverly could see tear tracks on the girl's face from where she hovered, shocked, by the door. The girl was holding onto Jason just as tightly as he held her, bodies pressed close together and her head tucked under his chin. The Scott woman's eyes drifted to the nicely folded pile of clothes on the foot of the bed and shook her head and quietly snuck around the bed to close the open window which the girl had surely used to sneak in.

She had no idea what had really happened between the pair (though she could make a pretty good guess) and decided that if this blonde girl was going to be in her house, the least she could do was stay for breakfast the next morning.

And Beverly would definitely catch her before she slipped out the window the next day.

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **UNEDITED**

 **So, Crys hates liars and we're seeing the end of the Crys / Kim friendship (permanently, by the way, sorry). Trini is developing into a stronger person and Saf and Zack are the second best BrOTP (because Crys and Billy are the best, obviously). And Beverly caught Crys and Jason together; so much for 'never' meeting his mother and sister, yeah?**

 **But who set the fire? Were they trying to frame Crys or was that just an accident?**

 **(I love Crys and Jason so much, oh my God. Do they have a ship name yet? I can't remember, oops)**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**

 **~ Raven**


	8. SEVEN

_**SEVEN | OBVIOUSLY NOT A WALK OF SHAME BECAUSE IT JUST WASN'T**_

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the** ** _Power Rangers_** **franchise or any of the characters. I only own the character Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other original characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue.** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

* * *

 **THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO** _ **NicoleR85,**_ ** _Papercrane26,_** _ **Guest, chelsnichole12, Nirvana14, Love**_ _.._ _ **Fiction.2017**_ **AND** ** _chibichibi98_** **FOR REVIEWING. I AM SO GLAD THAT EVERYONE LIKES THIS STORY SO MUCH AND HAS STAYED WITH IT, DESPITE HOW CRAPPY I AM AT UPDATING!**

 _ **chibichibi98:**_ _I like Jarys, it's cute!_

 ** _I. AM. ALIVE._**

* * *

 _Not a walk of shame_ , _not a walk of shame_ , _not a walk of shame_.

Okay, so it was a walk and maybe Crys was a _bit_ ashamed, but not because she had stayed the night in Jason's room, beside him in bed. Mainly because now Mrs Beverly Scott—self-proclaimed, most amazing breakfast-maker of the year—had turned up at the door when Crys was getting dressed in a clean shirt of Jason's as he lay in bed and gazed at her bare back and had _demanded_ , after a brief introduction on Crys' part, that the pair _get their hormonal teenage asses in the kitchen before Pearly came in and found them doing something a child should not have to see before Sex Ed classes began_.

Jason had gone about fifty shades of red too and Crys had laughed so hard at his expense that she had almost fallen over.

Crys had just smiled and agreed to be there in a few minutes, already liking Mrs Scott ("call me Bev, sweetie") and despite the way that Jason flopped back onto the bed—pure embarrassment radiating off him from being caught _not_ turning around when Crys changed _and_ for having a girl in his room which was a big no-no with Pearl just down the hall—she was pretty cool for a mother of two and a half kids. Mr Scott acted like a kid apparently; his recent fights with Jason always ended with Sam storming out of the room with stomping feet and curses under his breath, so it was clear that Bev was getting near her wit's end.

"Oh, god," Jason groaned, arm thrown over his face. "Let's hurry and get down to the kitchen before the _demon_ gets—"

Pearl, Jason's little sister, was an _angel_ , contrary to popular belief, and Crys adored her from the second the girl swirled into Jason's room like a tornado of pink glitter and sunshine and had jumped on her brother, making the boy let out a sharp cough of pain as his little sister's knee stabbed into his chest.

The little brunette laughed loudly, not moving from where her body was crushing her brother's ribs. She caught sight of Crys and her blue eyes went wide in interest, "Who's she, Jase? She's _really_ pretty. Is she your _girlfriend_?"

Both teenagers went bright red and Jason started stuttering. Crys rolled her eyes and lay down over Jason's legs, careful of his knee and the pressure she put on it. Truthfully, it ached when he walked for hours but other than that, the Scott boy's knee had healed well. But still, weeks with Jason had allowed the blonde girl to learn how to maneuver around him carefully and avoid causing him any kind of pain.

"You're really pretty too," the Zeo girl smiled gently, fingers reaching out to twirl her fingers through Pearl's long locks. The girl visibly preened, her own fingers stretching out to twirl her little digits through the golden locks of the older girl. "I'm Crys."

The eight-year-old wrinkled her nose delicately, "Isn't Crys a boy's name?"

Crys laughed at the little girl's words. Everything was black and white as a child and often, Crys wondered how she would have turned out if she had that luxury to sit back and play with her dolls as the adults around her sorted everything out.

"My full name is _Crystalia_ ," the Zeo girl corrected. "Like Crystal but my dad wanted my name to be as unique as he knew I would be. I think he just wanted me to have an odd name like him."

"What's his name?"

A sad, tentative smile overtook Crys' face, "Kyanite. Mom and my sister, Saf—whose full name is _Saphira_ , Pearl—call him Ky." She gently got up, holding out her hand for Pearl, "Now, com on, enough about me. I hear your mom is an awesome cook."

Pearl immediately began to babble in agreement, telling the older girl _all_ about her mother's endeavors in the kitchen of the baked good variety (because who could say no to _cake_?), as she dragged Crys from the room. The blonde shot Jason an amused look over her shoulder, letting herself be tugged down the stairs towards the delicious smell of bacon, as Jason rolled his eyes in response.

Bev was humming at the stove when the girls entered, Pearl still giggling madly and Crys was smiling fondly. She was already enjoying meeting the Scott girls—Bev was awesome, truthfully almost as chill as Willow, and Pearl reminded Crys of how Saf had been before she'd begun to focus on her studies and let her intellect consume her desire to run wild. Pearl was a bit like Jason too—she could see their shared features, their shared love of life—and Beverly still had the same glint in her eyes, despite the crow's feet and the somewhat strained smile she had first shot at Crys that morning.

"Hello, Crys," the woman smiled as she looked after the bacon on the stove and dropped one hand to press Pearl's body into her side. She turned her head towards the stairs, careful not to shout too loud by Pearl or Crys' head. " _Jason_! Get your butt down here."

"I am!" Jason called back, appearing at the foot of the stairs, still tugging his shirt over his chest. Crys shot him an appreciative look, head tilted, and Bev clucked her tongue with a smile before she swept at the girl with her tongs. The blonde let out a light yelp through a smile and Jason frowned in confusion, "Have I missed something?"

Bev shook her head, " _Nope_. Now, all three of you, get to the table for breakfast."

Crys slid into the chair beside Jason, eyeing the heaping piles of bacon, toast, grilled tomatoes and eggs. Bev had _really_ gone all out and the blonde felt bad, she had a feeling that the Scott woman wasn't _usually_ making a whole feast for her two children and herself.

"You really shouldn't have done so much," Crys commented as Bev sat down. "I mean, I'm okay with toast, a little butter…"

"It was no issue," Bev assured the girl. "Any food we don't eat goes to Sam when he comes home anyway, no need to worry. Besides, you're the first girl my son's ever brought home. How long have you been together?"

Both Crys and Jason blinked and then glanced at each other. Their cheeks flared to life and glanced away from each other sharply, the girl offering up an answer with a _slightly_ shaking voice, coughing uncomfortably and shifted in her chest. "Uh, Jason and I _aren't_ together, Bev. Just close friends."

" _Oh_."

"Yeah, _oh_."

Beverly smiled, eating a forkful of eggs. She bit her lip, trying not to laugh at the alarming shade of crimson that Jason had turned as he tried not to choke on the slice of bacon in his mouth. "I could've said otherwise, seeing you two last night."

Jason started coughing and Crys shook her head so frantically that she almost went dizzy. Pearl shot a questioning look at her mother, confused as to what the smirking woman was talking about as Jason struggled to breathe.

" _That_ won't be happening again," the blonde promised. "I just had a really bad day yesterday and wanted to talk to Jason."

Said boy didn't mention to his mother who Crys hadn't said a word to him, instead just climbing in through the window and refusing to say a word about what the Hell was pissing her off so much. But Jason hadn't minded; he'd woken up with Crys curled into her side, her hand over his heart and his arms wrapped around her. He'd been comfortable, unwilling to get up and he faked being asleep when Crys stirred, yawned widely and blinked at the sunlight streaming through the window, and only tucked herself closer to Jason's warm side.

Bev hummed, disbelieving that the pair weren't a couple. Especially because she could see how her son was staring at the back of the blue-eyed girl's head. "Well, I want you to know that you're always welcome here. During _daylight hours_."

Laughing, Crys nodded in agreement, "Sure." She frowned slightly as she reached for a slice of toast, feeling like she was forgetting something. Her light eyes darted to the clock by the counter and almost fell out of her car as she scrambled to her feet, toast forgotten. " _Dammit_. I am so, _so_ sorry to run out on you but I have, uh, somewhere to be."

Jason stood up as well, "Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm okay, thank you." Crys ducked around the table, heading for the door but she spun to smile at Bev and Pearl. "It was great to meet you both and I'm sorry I have to go. And…sorry, for the situation this morning."

Bev waved away the girl's worry. "It's okay. _Really_. But if you're going to be in my son's room anytime in the near future, please, warn me beforehand."

Crys let out a laugh but nodded quickly and, before Jason could really comprehend anything, the Zeo girl was hurrying from the house, the door falling closed behind her with a sharp _click_. Jason sat back down, chair scrapping over the wooden flooring as he dragged his way back over to the table. Beverly watched her son carefully, noting how his movements were more subdued, his smile less bright. Pearl didn't notice anything wrong so Bev stayed silent until the little girl was gone and Jason was hobbling his way around the kitchen, placing dirty plates into the sink and wrapping a piece of tinfoil over the plate for his father.

"You like her."

"What?" Jason asked sharply, head jerking up with a start. He swallowed tightly, shaking his head quickly, "What? Me…like Crys? Um, nope. _Nope_. Crys—she's just a friend, I'm just her friend. That's it…just friends."

Bev raised a disbelieving eyebrow—because, _honestly_ , Jason didn't even believe it himself because his excuse had been _weak_. He wordlessly swiped at one of the plates with a towel and shook his head. The Scott woman bit back her laugh, raising her hand to stroke over her son's head, pushing his hair from his forehead.

Jason groaned, dropping his chin to his chest. "I know, mom." He tossed the towel onto the sink. "She was the one to visit me in hospital and I suppose I just…I've never met anyone like her before."

Bev smiled sadly. When she had met Sam, everything had been easier. Angel Grove had been quiet and idealistic, Beverly had been the shy, nerdy girl in the background and Sam, quarterback and chick magnet, had taken an interest in her after she began to tutor him in Chemistry. Their love story had been cliché and perfect and, shortly after graduating, the couple had moved into their own home in the equally perfect suburbs of the small town and Beverly had fallen pregnant with Jason. Occasionally, the woman would think about her would-be career that she had given up in favor of being a house-wife but the reward of watching Jason and Pearl grow up and make her proud was better than any career she could have had.

"Have you tried talking to her?"

The Scott boy scoffed, " _No_. It's Crystalia Zeo we're talking about."

Bev shrugged, "And she seems lovely."

"Well, yeah, but she's not like that all the time. The first time I properly spoke to her, I was dragging her away from forcing a boy into needing plastic surgery. Let's just say that she's not the teachers' favorite person."

 **XXXXX**

Billy was retreating inside himself and his mother was worried. It was the day and she had never seen Billy become so antisocial (and that was saying something, given that the Cranston barely spoke to anyone his own age other than Crys). It was troubling Mrs Cranston that Crys was barely around as well; maybe they were fighting?

"I'm here!" Crys announced from the door, the fly-screen allowing the girl to see the older woman at the dining table with a mug of what she assumed was coffee. Mrs Cranston wasn't like her mom—Willow _never_ thought it was too early in the morning for alcohol. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"I wasn't sure you were coming," the older woman admitted, getting p to unlatch the lock. Crys slipped her way inside, dropping her bag by the door with a dull _clunk_. "You haven't been around lately."

Crys shook her head, "I've been busy, Mrs C. But I wouldn't miss today for the world." She tipped her chin towards the stairs to the basement, where she knew that the Cranston boy would be tinkering away. "How is he?"

"Quiet. _Really_ quiet." The woman tried not to sob, tried not to break apart in front of her son's best friend, "It's, uh, a little scary."

" _Donna_ ," Crys interrupted and the Cranston woman started, having always been _Mrs C_ to the Zeo girl. Her dark eyes were as vulnerable as Crys' and the girl placed her hands on Donna's shoulders, "Please, just today, forget about Billy because I'll look after him. I want you to look after _yourself_ for a change."

Donna blinked. After her husband's death, Donna had obsessed over her work and obsessed over looking after Billy, forcing herself to focus on _anything_ but the man she lost. And here she was, years down the track on the anniversary of her husband's death and she didn't know how to grieve or just put herself first, not properly.

"I don't know how to do that."

Crys sniffed, refusing to admit her eyes at misted over at the woman's broken tone. "Go and see my mom, I'm sure she'd love some company. I'm going to take Billy to the cemetery at about three, so if you want to go, we'll be there."

"You're too good to us."

"You two were too good to _me_ ," Crys corrected, swiping at a tear dripping down the cheek of the woman who had been like an aunt to her all her life. "I'm just repaying one of countless favors."

Donna drew Crys into a tight hug and the pair stood like that in the middle of the kitchen for a few moments. The Cranston woman needed it, that comfort of someone who could just sit there and _listen_ , and Crys knew that while she could offer comfort to Billy, it wouldn't be the same sort of comfort that Willow could offer Donna.

Crys headed down the steps to the basement after Donna left and she stood by the door for a few minutes. Speaking to Billy was often difficult enough as it was, he tended to fixate and ramble off into tangents on whatever caught his attention, but it was even more difficult when he was shut off from anything. Billy, usually so attentive, didn't even notice when Crys stood behind him silently and just watching sadly as Billy muttered to himself and fiddled with the wires in front of him with shaky hands and wide, darting eyes. Billy always got that way on the anniversary ( _honestly_ , who could blame him?) and Crys _always_ did her best to comfort her best friend the best she could as he faced the challenge of interpreting her own emotions. And it _hurt_ Crys to see _Billy_ hurting because he couldn't convey how much he missed his father and it especially hurt as she watched Billy try to understand his own mother's pain, something he still couldn't quite manage.

"Hey, Billy." Billy hummed in greeting, still fiddling, and Crys shot a watery smile at the back of her best friend's head. "I'm here. You're here."

"I am here," Billy acknowledged, "in my lab. Working. Dad would be happy to see me doing some of his work."

"He would. You're going to be finished soon." Billy very rarely liked questions when he was _in the zone_ and Crys tried to cater to that, saying everything as a statement with an _implied_ question mark at the end.

Billy bobbed his head, "Probably."

"Do you want to come see my father with me?"

The Cranston boy froze; Saf had told him about the spinal cancer Kyanite Zeo was suffering from and Crys had been very secretive about it all. He turned in his chair, staring his best friend in the eye. "Are you sure?"

"You're my best friend and my dad loves you." The blonde shrugged, reaching out to nudge her fingers against Billy's shoulder briefly, "Besides, you need to get out of this basement, it's not healthy. Not today."

The genius kept his eyes on Crys, noting how she wiggled in her spot almost awkwardly. "Okay, let's go."

 **XXXXX**

Diane watched as Crys strolled casually into Ky's room, the nurse sitting up quickly from her seat beside the man's bedside. There was a young boy beside Crys, his eyes flitting around uncomfortably, and she figured that he was the _nervous pipe-cleaner with eyes_ that Ky often spoke about—Billy Cranston, the son of his best friend.

"Everything ready?"

The nurse nodded quickly, the dark curls that had slipped free of her bun bouncing by her ears. Ky was already propped up in bed, like he was about to leap free of the covers by himself. "Yep. I managed to get a wheelchair—"

"And by _get_ she means that she confiscated it off a teenager racing it down the hall."

"—and there's a car out the front that we can use."

Billy frowned, "How long have you been planning this?"

Crys grinned, lifting her hand to high-five Diane. The woman did it, her own lips pulled wide in a smile. "I called on my run from J— _this morning_. I'm actually really impressed by how quickly you organized this _prison break_ , Di."

Diane flipped her hair, smirking. "I know. Think about how great I be as a prison nurse."

Ky rolled his eyes, reaching up weak, pale arms to tuck his long hair behind his eyes. His fingers shook a bit and his beard was beginning to come in. Crys had never seen her father so fragile and her eyes darkened.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" The Zeo man shot his daughter a look but she didn't back down, barely noticing as Diane ushered Billy out of the room silently, "I don't want to take you out if this is just going to further stunt your recovery."

"There is _no_ recovery," the man admitted as he saw the door fall shut quietly. They were alone but Ky knew that it wouldn't give his daughter any more incentive to be quiet so that the entire hospital couldn't hear her. "Oh, my little gem, you must have known. You must have known there was no _getting better_ for me."

Crys sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, staring into space. The corners of her eyes burnt, the telltale sign that she was about to cry and she swallowed the lump in her throat and breathed in deeply. "I knew. But I didn't want to know." The blonde turned to her father, her matching eyes looking at him almost accusingly, "I _can't_ do this without you. I've seen what it did to Billy to lose his father and he doesn't even feel strong emotions the same way that I do. I _can't_ lose you, dad."

"And I'm afraid it's not a _choice_." The British man reached out, tapping his fingers over his daughter's knuckles affectionately, "Come on now, love. Today is about looking after Billy and we can't do that if you're sulking."

Crys snorted, " _Sulking_. Found out that my father is as good as dead as he's wasting away in a hospital bed and I'm _sulking_." She attempted a smile and pressed a kiss to her father's cheek as she helped his shockingly-light body into the wheelchair. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too, gem." The Zeo man smiled childishly, pointing forwards towards the door, "Now onwards, my good woman!"

And in retaliation, as soon as they were out of the room, Crys almost ran Ky into a wall, sparking the man to complain about attempted murder and Diane to mention how she had wanted to do the same thing for weeks now. Billy just smiled, nudging his shoulder against Crys who offered him a reassuring smile that clearly said _I'm right here with you_.

 **XXXXX**

For Willow the pending divorce had sparked some kind of ferocious wildfire within her—her paintings, sculptures, and even her random sketches had never before been so filled with emotion. Every piece of heart was from the very bottom of her repressed heart.

For Gene the floodgates of inspiration had snapped closed and he spent his days sitting on a park bench that was situated across from a graveyard. Whoever organized _that_ part of the town plan deserved to be shot.

Usually, the man could be found scribbling every moment of the day, his mind always whirling to create a new life and a new land for his stories to thrive. But now, he was severely blocked, all his writing was the same—character falls in love against all odds and everything is _fan-fucking-tastic_ and then, the character gets their heart ripped out of their chest and stomped on (by their ex-wife, who is unintentionally ruining the relationship the main character had with their child who clearly loves the ex-wife more). He hadn't even _seen_ Saf recently; she was always out of the house, working with Mrs Taylor or at the hospital, and Gene was pretty sure she slept in her outfit for the next day to save time in the morning.

And don't even get Gene started on Crys, who he knew for a fact hadn't come home the night before. But like Willow kept highlighting—Crys _wasn't_ his daughter and he had no control over her actions, even if she was doing _God-knows-what_.

Gene glanced up, his pen between his teeth and his brow permanently furrowed. Yeah, it was going to be another few hours of sitting there like a serial killer until he deemed it time to go home and proceed to avoid his soon-to-be ex-wife.

The Moore man still didn't doubt that it was all Ky's fault. And speak of the devil— _was that a wheelchair_?

Gene narrowed his eyes, leaning forward comically on the park bench to see if he was right about the unkempt man in the wheelchair being Kyanite Zeo, the man who could have potentially ended his marriage by _not_ being in the picture. The writer teetered before shoving himself back up into a normal seated position.

He could clearly recognize Crys—because the only other people in Angel Grove with hair that _blonde_ were Willow and Saf and neither of them wore nearly that much black—and the boy beside her was Billy Cranston, who Gene had met a few times. Truthfully, Billy unsettled Gene a bit, he had a look in his eyes that said _all-knowing_ but Saf loved him, so who was Gene to say anything? And the brunette woman with them was dressed in scrubs—a nurse, who was probably there to assist the unnamed-man-but-probably-Ky in the wheelchair—but seemed as childish as the teenagers with her, given how she had almost killed one of the angel statues by the curb.

" _Don't blink_!" Gene heard Crys and Ky yell in sync as the nurse almost ran head-first into a tall angel statue which had it's hands by it's face. The brunette woman let out a shriek, stumbling back from the statue and then she stared at it, like it was actually going to reach out to kill her, before she darted back and slapped both of the Zeo's arms.

"Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry, Diane," Crys apologized but she didn't sound very sorry. She just continued to navigate her way through the gravestones and flowers, driving the wheelchair carefully to avoid Ky from tipping forward into a rock.

Diane grumbled under her breath in Spanish, something probably not very nice or in either Crys or Ky's favor. Billy snickered under his breath as Crys turned, an affronted look twisting her features.

"What was that, Di? I couldn't hear you over your own bitterness."

The Garcia woman pursed her lips, her head moving back and she looked remarkably like Daffy Duck, mid-argument with Bugs Bunny. "You're _despicable_."

"But you love us anyway." Crys caught sight of Donna, elegantly maneuvering her way through the headstones to wrap an arm around her son's shoulders, "Hey, Donna. Feeling any better? Mom help?"

"A little. You're mom's been an angel but she couldn't make it, she couldn't seem to find Saf." The woman smiled, though shocked, in greeting and reached her hand out to place it on Ky's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Oh, Ky, I haven't seen you in _years_. And look at you—what's happened to you?"

Ky shot the woman a joking smile, "I got old."

"Didn't we all?" The small group made it to the headstone belonging to Mr Cranston, looking down at it. It never got easy—when did it ever get easier?—to stand over the grave of a loved one and, once again, say good bye. "It means a lot to me, and Billy, that you're all here today."

Ky glanced up, reaching to pat at Donna's hand. "We wouldn't have had it any other way. We're here for you, Donna, Billy." The Zeo man reached out to tug Crys from behind the wheelchair to stand by his side in front of the headstone, "You're family."

And Billy's eyes welled with tears for the first time the entire day, finally realizing what Crys had met when he had people with him. " _Thank you_."

 **XXXXX**

* * *

 **UNEDITED**

 **So, this chapter was a bit fluffy in the beginning (and Pearl and Bev were introduced, whoot whoot!) but then it got sad. I know, I don't know what I was thinking as I was writing it, but I kind of liked how it turned out. I put some more depth behind Billy as a character and I felt bad because I felt like Crys was getting close with everyone and kind of leaving Billy behind, oops!**

 **Donna Cranston is also named for Donna Noble, from** ** _Doctor Who_** **, because I liked her as a character. I am also trying really hard to get back onto updating a lot more and hopefully (fingers crossed) I won't go MIA again.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**

 **~ Raven**


	9. EIGHT

**_EIGHT | THE BEST BITS OF YOU AND ME_**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own the _Power Rangers_ franchise. I only own Crystalia 'Crys' Zeo, any other characters that you do not recognize and their original plot lines and dialogue. _The Breakfast Club_ will include mentions of violence, homosexuality and swearing.**

 **Thank you** ** _Ellixwolf, SaraPotter17, ThatOddPotato, Emstein97, jk522, Guest, AngelGurrl, NicoleR85, Elsa - 18, chelsnichole12_ and every other wonderful reader out there! I'm sorry for the long wait!**

* * *

"How's Billy?"

So, Crys was highly appreciative of Jason's care for her best friend, even if it _was_ just because Crys was best friends with him. Billy and Jason had never spoken before, despite being in same year, and the Zeo girl wasn't about to introduce them to each other straight away. Billy would get awkward and probably ramble off into science babble and Jason would probably just stand there, awkwardly shifting from foot-to-foot as much as he could with his knee in a brace. And then there would be Crys, _also awkward_ , trying to be a mediator between her best friend and the boy who was quickly becoming an all-consuming force in her life. Jason was close to coming back to school too and it seemed that he was going out of his way to reacquaint himself with everything he had missed out on—like Kimberly Hart's near-suspension, Billy's admittance to Detention Day Saturday for the rest of the year alongside his best friend and other menial occurrences. He had asked so he had cared at one point, obviously, but as the pair continued on their walk to absolutely nowhere in particular, he was finding himself more focused on _Crys_ than what she was saying.

"—blow something up." Crys frowned at Jason's lack of response, the boy kicking rocks on the ground with his good leg, "Jason? Are you okay? You've barely said a word since we left your house."

"Hmm?" Jason hummed, eyes snapping up to Crys' worried gaze before he let a sheepish smile dart over his lips. "I'm sorry, I'm just distracted. I swear I was listening to your plan to blow something up but I suggest you avoid the Youth Center—you don't need to be identified as any more of a juvenile delinquent than you already are." Crys continued to give him an unimpressed look and Jason reached up to scrub at his face, sighing, "I swear I'm okay, Crys. You don't need to worry about me so much."

"I don't have any other hobbies."

"You should _definitely_ get some."

Crys shrugged, jumping over a fallen log. Jason blinked in surprise, seeing that they had wandered onto the outskirts of the woods and he watched more closely as the blonde girl in front of him started to take the familiar route to what he had designated as _their spot_. Not just _his_ now, the spot overlooking Angel Grove had become even more important to him with her there with him and he wasn't about to tell her that she wasn't allowed to go there for no reason. Jason enjoyed Crys being there, right beside him.

"Fine, when you tell your father you're done with football," Crys bargained after a moment, toeing a tree root with her boot, "I'll let you pick me a hobby. Anything you want—maybe _I'll_ take up football."

Jason deadpanned, "You're not nearly as funny as you seem to think you are."

"And, although this is hard, it's not nearly as complicated as you seem to think it is."

The Scott boy held back a laugh as he watched Crys pirouette through the woods, dancing to a tune only she could hear. Sometimes, he wondered if she was a bit insane but he figured she needed to be to survive the pure boredom of Angel Grove—she made her own fun, her own insanity and Jason hadn't known how much he had _craved_ a bit of madness until she had rocked up in the doorway of his hospital room, peeking through her fingers.

"You're wonderful, you know that?" Crys would sooner die than admit she tripped a bit at Jason's words, whirling around to stare at him with a blush on her face. Jason was leant against a tree, smiling at her like she was the only thing he ever wanted to see again in his life before he tilted his head, flicking his eyes in the opposite direction, "If we're going to our spot, you're headed in the wrong direction."

Crys' blush deepened and she stuck out her tongue. "I know that."

"'Course you do." Jason dug his hands into his pockets, trailing behind the Zeo girl who was definitely now _stomping_ through the trees. She didn't like being wrong and Jason found an odd joy in proving her that she _could_ be wrong. "Right turn here and a—"

" _I know_!"

Jason laughed outright at Crys' scrunched up features as the pair finally made their way to the cliff. The blue-eyed girl plopped down on her butt with a low huff, swinging her legs with a childish interest off the ledge. Jason followed suit, albeit more gracefully, before he reclined onto his elbows and then lay flat on his back. It was nice, just lying there without a care in the world, but he knew it wouldn't last. It never did. But even for a moment, it was nice that Jason could pretend it could; his father was a controlling man though he would always try to deny it and most normal conversations exploded into shouting matches. Initially, Jason hadn't even _wanted_ to be on the football team, forced into it by Sam Scott who used to be Angel Grove High's football coach. So determined to see Jason with a football scholarship, Sam had begged the local paper to write about Jason's football talents and had sent the articles off to talent scouts. But the expectations shoved onto the Scott boy by his father was suffocating. Jason couldn't deny that he loved being on the football team after a while—he loved group environments, thrived on them—but it didn't mean that he was still angry towards Sam for his meddling.

That resentment had motivated his acceptance of the prank that had involved a cow and a horrible car accident.

"You're not okay," Crys murmured after a few moments of silence, slowly as if she was gaging Jason's temper at the moment, "but I don't want to pressure you into saying anything. So I'm gonna sit here…and make you feel uncomfortable until you crack."

The ex-footballer shook his head and extended his right arm over the grass. He was confident and had a cold temper when he wanted to but the pair had learnt to maneuver around each other as easily as breathing. Jason's arm was a silent invitation and Crys didn't hesitate to move, placing her head on Jason's shoulder and tucking herself close to his body. It wasn't cold, as such, but early mornings were always fresh in the woods, something they had learnt after their first half-dozen expeditions to the cliff. Jason's arm curled around her head to run his fingers through her hair, cheek pressed to her blonde curls. "Good luck with that, Crys. _You_ don't make me uncomfortable—" the Zeo girl was tempted to challenge that, she _could_ make him uncomfortable if she really wanted to and she would find it easy "—but if you expect me to _crack_ then I expect you to crack too."

"Sounds a bit ominous."

"Sounds a bit like _you_ ," Jason corrected, eyes drifting closed as they both lapsed into a peaceful silence. Crys almost purred as Jason rubbed his fingertips into her scalp, something that apparently all the women in her family liked, and he cracked a wide smile as she nudged herself closer. But he had to keep his head and focus on what he really wanted to say. "Crys, you know you can tell me anything, right? I'm here for you."

"You better be. I didn't visit you in hospital just for you to abandon me whenever you feel like it, Jason Lee Scott."

"I don't think I could abandon you if I tried, Crystalia Zeo."

 **XXXXX**

Ky was nervous—like _about-to-have-a-nervous-breakdown_ nervous—and he wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it. His fingers kept drumming away, his breath kept catching and every slight noise from the hallway made his head snap to the door and his heart to freeze in his chest. Why he had agreed to this, he had no idea, but much like when it came to Crys, Kyanite Zeo hadn't found himself able to say _no_ to Saphira Moore.

Even when his goddaughter suggested that Willow Moore was informed of his current… _predicament_.

So, instead of having a lovely conversation with Diane about whatever was happening in the world or Crys' most recent near-incarceration, he was waiting impatiently for his ex-girlfriend to make an appearance in his hospital room while he was suffering from a death sentence that he hadn't told her about. The British man ran a hand over his newly-shaved head, something that Saf had done while she asked him for a favor, and he swallowed thickly in fear. Ky knew Willow well and he knew he was a dead man even if the spinal cancer didn't get him—Willow would take his silence about his condition as the ultimate betrayal and she would have two settings: she would either scream and throw things or she would fake that she was okay with it, only to blow up at him at a later date. Willow was a complicated woman, as complicated as her daughters, but Ky had fallen in love with her multifaceted personality and he would be damned before he told her to restrain herself. She wasn't a creature of restraint, she was one of unbridled passion that her _darling husband_ had tried to bottle and sell off as his muse.

There was a low _tap-tap_ at the door and Saf poked her little blonde head in, "Hey, Uncle Ky, mom is here to see you. Are you ready?"

"Not in the slightest." Ky let out a shaky breath, "Send her in—there's no time like the present, I suppose."

Saf eased her way out and looked to her mother. Willow was extremely confused and it was clear on her face. Why was she in the hospital? And wasn't Ky on a dig in Tibet or something? The younger blonde reached out to take her mother's hands, lips pursed together in an expression of pure unhappiness. It made Willow almost jerk her hands out of her daughter's grip, green eyes flaring like a startled rabbit. "Mom…you've got to be prepared that inside that room is something you're going to find… _scary_. It's scary but I know you're strong enough to know and strong enough to handle it."

"This sounds like one of those speeches that I'm supposed to be giving you," Willow laughed nervously, tapping the tips of her fingers against the back of Saf's hand. "What's going on here, Saf? You're really worrying me, baby, because I always thought the cryptic Yoda talk was something reserved just for your sister."

"Mom," Saf said sternly, "this is _serious_."

"And this involves Ky?" Willow's voice cracked even though it was tiny in the first place and as Saf nodded, the older woman's eyes dropped. She untangled her hands from her daughter's without another word, shoving her way into the room and her breath caught in her throat. Kyanite looked so small and frail, bald-headed and pale, and her breath came out in a sob, "Oh my God, Ky…"

"Hello, Willow."

The Moore woman lowered herself to sit by Ky's side, watching with bated breath as his shaky hands reached out to take her right one in his. Saf hovered by the door before she pulled it shut with a soft _click_ , wandering off to find Diane. "You…you let someone cut your hair?" Ky let out a raspy chuckle and the blonde shook her head, teary-eyed. His hair had always been a soft spot for him and to see it gone, it was almost a sign to say _I've given up_ and Kyanite Zeo, though many good and bad things, wasn't a coward. He never backed down from a fight, even when he probably should, just like his daughter. " _Kyanite_ , what's happened to you? You were healthy, smiling and had _hair_ , when I saw you last."

"A lot can change in a few months." Ky's fingers squeezed Willow's with surprising strength, "Right now, I just want to sit here with you. Can you do that for me? No questions, just you and me catching up like we used to."

Willow placed her other hand over their joined hands, thumb stroking over his knuckles. "Yeah, Ky, we can do that."

 **XXXXX**

Trini swirled her mug of coffee over the diner countertop, dark eyes locked on the clock ticking on the far wall. She tugged her yellow baseball cap further over her face, not giving the slightest shit about looking _suspicious_. If she was gonna rob the place, she wouldn't have worn bright yellow and she would have brought Crys to help her. The Kwan girl dropped her gaze to her coffee, nose scrunching up at the bitter liquid before she reached for the sugar shaker by her arm and tipped a small mountain into her chipped cup. She'd already been through two cups (and one of those chocolate croissants) and Saf, who had jetted off to collect Billy, had yet to arrive even though it was already half-three. Apparently, William "Billy" Cranston had a _memory like a steel trap_ according to Gene but had a distinct aversion to things he couldn't completely control, like cars, which was why Saf had decided to go pick him up herself on foot and walk back to the café to meet up with Trini.

And, _um_ , was it the just her or was it really warm in the diner?

 _So_ , maybe Trini _was_ nervous to meet Billy. She'd heard a lot about him from both Crys and Saf and, from what they'd said, she expected someone with strong opinions and a distinct lack of a filter to keep those honest thoughts _in_ his skull. Trini sucked in a scared breath, lower lip trembling in the effort to keep herself from either screaming or crying. _Okay_ , _too overwhelming_ , Trini decided, draining her coffee. It was Trini's self-destructive tendencies and inability to cope with anything overwhelming that had Saf finding an empty seat at the diner counter and a note simply reading _I'M SORRY, SAFFY_ tucked underneath an empty mug and a tiny _x_ scrawled alongside Trini's name.

And, although she was disappointed, Saf couldn't say she was surprised as she settled into a booth across from Billy and talked about the mine he planned to explode with her sister, promising herself that she _would_ talk to Trini Kwan. Just not yet, she needed some information from Billy first.

 **XXXXX**

" _Hey, mom_ ," Zack greeted in Chinese as he made his way over to his mother, carrying a tray of food. She looked exceptionally frail, all fragile limbs and pale skin; Zack remembered when he was younger and his mother was golden-skinned and bright-eyed, just as much as a thrill seeker as her son was. He supposed that he was a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie because he needed to be daredevil enough for the both of them. " _Have you eaten much today_?"

" _Zack_ ," the frail woman sighed, eyes brightening at the sight of her son before her lips pinched up. " _You look pale_. _Have you been eating enough_?"

Ying Yue had moved from China when she was a young girl but she hadn't Americanized herself like her husband had, the biggest change she made was occasionally referring to herself as _Yue Taylor_ than by her full first name. She was a bright woman and she had been strong in both spirit and body for many years but her health had failed her, leading her to months in bed, too weak to get up and do things for herself. The saddest thing for Zack was watching his mother fade away, medicine not really cutting it anymore and the visits from Saf made Yue happier but not healthier. Zack eased down to sit on the bed by his mother's arm, offering the small bowl of soup to her.

" _I have, mom, I'm more worried about you_."

" _Don't_ ," Yue waved her hand but sighed, letting her son spoon some soup into her mouth. She hated being babied but with the way her hands shook and wrists cracked, there wasn't much she could do for herself. " _How's school_?"

Zack didn't have the heart to tell her that he had been skipping school to pull insane stunts. She wouldn't support his idea to become a YouTube star to pay for her treatment, jumping off trains and scaling buildings to post videos online, especially not if he was ignoring school to do it. But, God, did he hate lying to Yue. " _Fine, mom. School's been fine and I promise, I'm going to detention too_."

Yue sighed, slightly disappointed in her son. She hadn't approved of how Zack had gotten detention in the first place—one too many skipped classes and an incident that involved jumping from roof to roof—but she refused to condemn him for something _very_ similar to what she used to do as a youth. " _Good, good_ … _I worry about you sometimes, Zachary. You're such a bright boy and I don't want you to throw that all away for me_."

Zach smiled sadly, watching his mother. She had only managed a few spoons of soup but Yue was already starting to drift off, dark eyes drooping with exhaustion—Zack knew she wouldn't be awake for much longer. They didn't have many long conversations now; Zach was usually out on the top of a train, relaxing and trying to forget about his home life, and when he was home, Yue was usually too tired to keep her eyes open long enough to eat barely anything, let alone speak with her son. He reached out, running his hand through her hair as Yue curled deeper into the covers, " _Have a rest, mom. I love you._ "

Yue was snoring softly before he even finished his sentence, features soft and breathing gentle, as she drifted off into a land where she was healthy.

 **XXXXX**

"Ah, _shit_!" Crys exclaimed, jerking up with a start as something cold dripped onto her head. There was a crick in her neck and she was wrapped up in another jacket that was basically swimming on her. And, _dammit_ , she was cold, why was her window open— _oh_. The blonde girl scrubbed at her face, wiping away droplets of water as she glared up at Kimberly Hart. Apparently, she and Jason had fallen asleep on their cliff, only to be found by Kim who had been taking a midnight swim.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

" _What_?" Crys glanced blearily down at her watch—quarter past one in the _morning_ —before she stared down at Jason. He looked comfortable, still asleep with his head resting on his arm (which was _definitely_ going to be numb), and Crys hushed Kim. "Freaking Hell, Kim, what do you want?"

Kim seemed to gather some dredges of courage from her ankles. "I wanted to tell you that you were right." The Zeo girl's jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed but she didn't say a word. "I'm serious. I know what I did to Amanda was wrong and I'm sorry that I tried to blame you for that fire in the detention room."

Crys rolled her eyes and unlaced Jason's arms from around her, pushing herself off the ground. She shook some stray strands of grass from her hair as she dragged Kim away a few steps, out of earshot of Jason. "Big whoop, Kimberly. You're _sorry_ for almost killing some kids and shoving the blame on me but you're not _sorry_ for the child pornography." She tilted her head, lips upturned in a sickly-sweet smile, "And don't think that I didn't hear about you punching Ty in the face. Knocked out a tooth, yeah? _Impressive_."

"He disrespected me!" Kim snapped but Crys was already letting out a sarcastic, disbelieving laugh.

" _Pathetic_ ," the blue-eyed girl drawled. "He called you out on what you did, that's not disrespect. And just because they put the tooth back in, it doesn't mean that it just suddenly erases everything you did." She rubbed at her eyes, "Why were you really here, Kim? Did you, what, get jealous when you saw me here with Jason and wanted to make yourself look better in his eyes? Are you here to make yourself _feel_ better because, somewhere deep in that pretty, little head of yours, you can acknowledge that what you did to your supposed best friend was a _disgusting_ thing to do?"

Kim scoffed, "I wanted to be the _bigger person_ , Crys, a concept that I'm sure is lost on you. I suppose that you're too bitter to figure that out. Do you get a kick out of seeing the worst in everyone?"

"No," Crys' smile widened, "just a kick out of seeing the _true_ person underneath all that makeup and ego."

The dark haired girl huffed in disgust, pushing her wet hair off her shoulder. " _Wow_ , Crys, and here I thought we could be friends again." Her eyes flicked to Jason's sleeping form, "You put on this _holier-than-thou_ attitude. Tell me: does he know about all those skeletons in your closet? Do you _really_ think that you're so perfect that you can just toss us all to the side after one mistake and expect people to think you're untouchable?" Crys didn't say a word, actually looking a bit bored, as Kim smirked. "No wonder your only friends are _freaks_."

Crys' smile became wolfish, something dangerous and animalistic lurking under her angelic feature. _Immediately_ , Kim knew she had crossed a line, a line that had been so boldly written in the sand for as long as Crys had known how to stand up for herself. She gulped as Crys took a step forward, making Kim take one back, stepping deeper into the shadows of the woods. The Zeo girl wasn't unstable in the conventional sense but she had never hid how violent she could get when it came down to her _family_.

"I suggest that you keep comments like that to yourself, _Kimberly_ —" Kim shivered in fear at Crys' venomous tone "—or the next tooth they'll be putting back into a mouth will be _yours_." She turned, walking back to Jason and she flicked a wave over her shoulder, "See you at school, Kim."

And, in that moment, Kimberly Hart hadn't regretted anything more than how she had so thoughtlessly ruined Crys' singular moment of pure happiness in a long time with Jason Scott. She watched as Jason sat up, wiping sleep from his eyes, before he immediately reached for Crys, tugging her to lay back down beside him. Kimberly swallowed thickly before she turned on her heel, walking into the shadows. She wouldn't make that mistake again; Crys wasn't someone to be trifled with, especially not when it came to the best version of herself that she had fought so hard to create.

 **XXXXX**

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 **UNEDITED**

 **I'm alive! I'm so sorry this chapter has taken forever (and the next one probably will take a century too) but, right now,** ** _The Breakfast Club_** **is the only story I have inspiration for at the moment.**

 **So, Jarys is sailing, little by little, and Crys is showing her bitchy side. It's bloody terrific, I'm having a lot of fun writing her at the moment, and the next chapter will be the start of the movie. I've been watching the deleted scenes from the movie and, Lordy, I wish all of them (BUT THE KIMBERLY/JASON KISS BECAUSE, UM, NO) was added. I hope I'm doing Trini justice as a standoffish, insecure character and Zack, who the directors were actually going to have as a budding-YouTube star (fun fact), as a vulnerable adrenaline junkie, as odd as that combination is. And now Willow knows about Ky too!**

 **Please, let me know what you think of this chapter!**

 **~ Raven**


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